Resound
by abbytherat
Summary: How are you supposed to feel when it seems everything to come is a direct result of your failure; when your defeat rings echos throughout the world? This is the tale of those who once called themselves CP9. *Based on the 'Independent Report' cover arc*
1. The Island of No Survivors

**Here's a new story, even though I should really be working my old ones first. It's not my fault One Piece is awesome!**

**All of CP9 will be playing major rolls here, but the story will center most around Kaku and Lucci. However this will not be a KakuxLucci pairing. I have no problem with yaoi, but that's not where I want this to go.  
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**Anyways I don't one One Piece or any of the characters.**

**Hope you enjoy.**

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Twenty years back one little girl became the first known person in the history of the Marines to survive a Buster Call, and now the woman she grew into could boast to surviving two. As if that's not enough, she wasn't alone. No, the entire target pirate crew, a small battalion of Water 7 ruffians, three Galley-La foremen, two giants, and a pair of king bulls all made it out of the 'ultimate attack' alive.

It was of very small comfort that Enies Lobby was effectively reduced to rubble. The Courthouse and the Tower of Justice, symbols of the World Government's inescapable authority, were gone, and the worst part was that the only people who _didn't _make it off the island were the first ones everybody who knew of their existence would bet on. Looking at the charred aftermath, if they were in there somewhere than not even the superhuman assassins of Cipher Pol 9 could have lived.

The fact that the intended targets escaped the island was not an issue of the attack's effectiveness. The battle might have been lost, but the Buster Call is a force of destruction and in that it was successful. Enies Lobby was truly an island of no survivors.

However, and as absurd as this sounds, that was only in _one_ dimension.

That's right. There's another Enies Lobby, or rather an antispace that corresponds to the real one, and it was in that impossible place that the only female member of CP9 came too with a rousing scream of "THAT BITCH!!!"

Kalifa stared at herself in horror. It wasn't enough that her glasses were gone and her lovely blond hair was a matted mess, but that loathsome little redhead she was fighting had shredded the front of her clothes so badly she might as well be naked. Perhaps hiding her key in her cleavage was not the best idea, but this was going too far!

The groans her shrill voice solicited from Jyabura and Fukurou brought her back to the situation and she threw the white sheet that had slipped down back over her shoulders.

Jyabura achingly sat up and spit out the iron flavor of the blood that was pooling in his mouth. Kalifa couldn't see him too well, but she could tell he was pawing at his chest, and from the winces this caused, he was injured. Then his fuzzy, barely featured face fell on her. Of all the unknowns they were currently faced with, he picked out the least significant, opened his mouth, and asked, "What's with the sheet?"

Kalifa gave him her usual deadpan stare, not letting on how blind she was without her glasses, and said, "That's sexual harassment."

Jyabura snorted and turned his attention to his surroundings instead. He was completely unconcerned that she had been stripped by the enemy, and Kalifa actually appreciated this. It meant he had confidence in her. He didn't assume the worst because he knew that if anyone ever tried such a thing, they would be force fed their own heart.

"What the hell?" he deemed to state next. "Where are we, the Land of Lime Gelatin?"

She squinted around and, though she couldn't make out any details, she would recognize that eerie shade of emerald anywhere. "We're in between Blueno's airdoors," she responded, letting out a little of her apprehension. This was perfect. "The bombardment can't reach us here." As she spoke something erupted near by and showered them with particles and billowy stuff; shrapnel and smoke from the mortars. It was little more than an optical illusion though, and it passed harmlessly through them. "See?"

The man still didn't look satisfied. "Okay, then where's Blueno?"

And he was right. Fukurou was still lying nearby. Kalifa assumed he was conscious as his face was scrunched in pain and he was making little whimpering noises while rubbing his palms against his brow; a simple headache most likely. Kumadori was in a state she didn't want to accept as death. His mouth was hanging open, both eyes wide and rolled back, and no sign of breathing. She looked at him, took in these details, and then stopped thinking about it. Kaku was spread eagle on his back right next to her. He was at least breathing, but it was slow and shallow, and a soft, sick noise accompanied each rise of his chest. There was no Rob Lucci and no Blueno.

"I don't know. He's probably checking on Lucci and Spandam," she answered without concern.

"Well he'd better get back soon," Jyabura grumbled as he stood up, "This place is freaking me out." He went to Fukurou and nudged the huge round man with his foot. "Hey motor-mouth, you alive?" he asked in usual his growl. His victim answered with a series of close mouthed mumbles. Jyabura rolled his eyes. He leaned over, grabbed the pull for the golden zipper that was Fukurou's mouth, and yanked it open.

As soon as his lips were parted Fukurou started whining, "My head, chapapa!" in his childish voice.

Jyabura frowned at this. "Suck it up, wimp. You're fine." He then turned to Kumadori.

Kalifa looked like she was trying to bring Kaku around, but her attention was still on Jyabura and the inspection of his partner. After a moment he sighed and started massaging his temples, mumbling something barely audible about "morons" and "overdoing shit."

"Is he…" she didn't want to finish that question. Due to the nature of their occupation, they were all trained not to form any sort of attachments. Despite this, Kalifa couldn't help but suffer at the thought that Kumadori might be dead. He was easily the friendliest member of their team, and though most people from outside CP9 found him annoying, headquarters was a dull and serious place. Blueno was quiet, Kaku had one of those unobtrusive personalities, and she could do without Fukurou's rumor mongering, Jyabura's pissing contests, or Lucci's pretensions, but a Tower of Justice void of the mighty dramatist's loud voice and strange antics was a painful thought.

"He's alive," came the answer. Yet, Jyabura's posture belied his worry. "He's using the highest form of his Life Return technique: The Sleep of the Immortal, or something like that." He stopped there, as though this explained everything.

Kalifa waited for an elaboration. When it didn't come she said, "And that is?"

He turned to scowl at her, sighed, and plopped gracefully down to sit with his legs crossed. He stroked the long black tresses of his moustache to the tip of his goatee, a sign that he was thinking; something he normally tried to avoid. Sure he was a cunning and brilliant con artist, but as soon as you asked him to deal with the real world he was lost. "From what I understand," he said slowly, "Kumadori can put himself into some sort of weird trance where even if he's fatally wounded his body won't die. If he's fine, he'll snap out of it after a couple of hours, but if not then we need to get him to a doctor, and fast."

"So we won't know for hours?" She blinked at him, thinking. Kumadori looked like he was in bad shape, and if they waited even one hour it might be too late. "Is there any way to bring him out of it now?"

Jyabura stubbornly crossed his arms. "I only know of one thing that works, but there's no way in hell I'm doing it."

Kalifa was incensed. "And why not?!?" she seethed.

He met her raging violet eyes with a flinch. He might be much stronger than her, but he also knew all to well about women and their scorn. "Be-because…"

"It's because he's afraid, chapapa," Fukurou butted in. He was sitting up and looking like nothing had ever been bothering him. "Last time-" but he stopped abruptly when Jyabura jumped on him and started to close his zipper-mouth, literally shutting him up.

While this went on Kalifa continued glowering. Jyabura noticed and stopped what he was doing. When the woman started advancing on him he jumped back to use Fukurou as a shield, looking everywhere for an out. The only thing he could think of was to run for it, but he knew nothing about this place and didn't like the idea of getting lost in Jell-O Land. "Ah! No, wait," he pleaded, "Listen, we'll just let him wake up on his own. He'll be fine, really he will! Besides, it's not like we can go anywhere until the bombardment stops right? So let's just wait okay?"

Kalifa was going to do something _bad_ to him, he just knew it. Her face was frighteningly twisted and her hand was twitching, aching for a pair of glasses to adjust in her rage. She had a good series of tortures in mind, but was instantly distracted from them.

Kaku chose that moment to throw a violent coughing fit.

She ran over to him and dropped on her knees, taking in his way too pale skin, white eyes, and convulsive hacking. It sounded like he was trying to expel the contents of his chest cavity. She kept the outward appearance of calmness, but she just didn't know what to do! She was good at beating people to a pulp, not saving them!

She grabbed onto him, trying to still him and do… do something, but before she could even think he was ripped from her and rolled onto his side. In a single powerful cough, a large spray of blood finally burst from him, just barely missing her. He continued like that for a minute or so until the coughing got weaker and he just lay there, held in that position by Jyabura and breathing heavily while thin spit-washed red continued to trickle from his gasping lips.

Once she could feel a little relieved, Kalifa looked from Kaku to Jyabura in shock. "How did you…"

"It's the same thing you gotta do if someone passes out drunk." He had a smug look on his face, but Kalifa was less than impressed.

"Of course _you_ would have to know stuff like that," she said.

"Hey," he barked back at her, "what's that supposed to mean?!?"

Fukurou, who was standing over the three of them through the whole episode, reopened his zipper and said, "Shouldn't you look after Kaku before arguing?" They both looked slightly ashamed, and things would have been fine had he not opened his mouth the second time. "And she means you drink too much, like when you got so wasted at that staff party that you made out with Spandam's secretary."

"What? I didn't… wait," Jyabura's face suddenly lost all expression. "Gyatharine said something similar when she broke up with me…"

"That's because I told her, chapapa!" Fukurou sounded strangely proud of this confession, but it didn't last long after Jyabura jumped on him once more and started furiously shaking him.

"I wasn't even at that party you bastard!!!"

"Yes you were. I saw you."

"Like hell! It was probably that agent who looks like me!"

"It was you, chapapa!"

Kalifa ignored them as they continued their pointless argument. There was blood on her hand; just a little bit on the tips of her fingers, but it was the dark, slick kind that comes from deep wounds. The problem was that she couldn't even see any injuries on Kaku. Save for the smatter of red now on his face, he looked like the least inured person there.

When she carefully turned him onto his back again he stirred a little, his eyes fluttering and trying to open. That was good. He could tell them where he was hurt and save them a search. Unfortunately he failed to wake up, instead sinking back into a shallow comatose state.

She sighed. Why did she have to be the one doing this? Blueno was much better than her at this type of thing, so where was he when you needed him? Or better yet, Lucci? He and Kaku were partners, so he should be the one looking after this, not her. The best bet would be Kumadori, as he had the most extensive working knowledge of the human body, but that wasn't an option right now because Jyabura was an asshole.

Damn, this was getting to her. Discounting the many new recruits Rob Lucci killed before anyone could get to know them, there was only one CP9 member to die in her time. It was a freak accident, and she wasn't even on that mission. Death just wasn't factored into the equation. They were too good for that.

So why was this happening now?

Getting Kaku's shirt open was no easy task. Turns out the black of the fabric perfectly hid the fact that it was so soaked with blood it was sticking to his body. It was also sliced in many places. How had she missed that? But no matter how bad of a state his clothes were in, it was nothing compared to his body.

"My God," Kalifa gasped. This she hadn't expected. This… this was bad.

She began to tear the bottom of her sheet into makeshift bandages. "Enough, both of you!" she snapped. "Come here and help me!"

Jyabura gave an appreciative whistle when he saw Kaku's condition. "He really got his ass handed to him, hunh?"

"Don't just stand there," Kalifa responded. Outwardly her mask never slipped, but Jyabura's eyesight was not his dominant sense, and he could _smell_ the fear and panic coming off her.

"Relax," he told her as he crouched down to take a closer look at Kaku's injuries. "If this was gonna kill him, he'd already be dead."

"Hold him up," Kalifa ordered in her sternest business voice.

Jyabura did as he was told. It was difficult to believe that a few hours ago he had actually started thinking of 'the kid' as a rival, and now here he was helping to bind the young man's life threatening wounds. Still, he had to give Kaku some credit. He had been doing pretty well with his useless new Devil Fruit ability, and that swordsman was probably as strong as the curly-browed weirdo that Jyabura fought. He noticed Kalifa's hands shaking as she worked, and quickly looked away when he caught sight of her face.

Did the woman even notice the tears that were threatening to spill down her cheeks? _Don't cry! Don't cry! Oh please don't cry!_ Jyabura had a hard time watching women cry. Well, emotions in general made him uncomfortable, but nothing wrenched more than stuff like this. It was Kalifa though, and her tears never made it past the mild threats.

Still, he felt the insatiable need to comfort her, even if it meant speaking up for Lucci's sidekick.

"Kalifa, you really should relax alright?" He briefly made eye contact. She was back to deadpan and he didn't know whether to be relieved by that, or frightened. "I meant what I said. I know injuries, and this one's fatal, so if Kaku's still alive it means he's _willed_ himself that way and now he's good. It's one of those things, you know?" She didn't look convinced so he continued. "If you think he's weak enough that he'd simply die like this, than you underestimate what it means to be CP9. He's one of us, remember? One of the best."

"Why Jyabura, I'm touched."

Jyabura's face paled at that comment. That was not Kalifa's voice.

He and the woman looked down to see Kaku's eyes cracked open, staring up at them with a weak, but ironic smile on his lips. "I never realized you thought so highly of me."

Kalifa sagged visibly with relief while Fukurou did a few pirouettes, announcing loudly and happily that Kaku was alive to any entities that might be inhabiting that strange place. Jyabura's teeth were bared in a way that looked like he was trying to grin and snarl simultaneously. "I meant that you better not get killed so pathetically and embarrass this organization!"

"Ah, I see," Kaku said. His voice was wheezy and breathless, making him sound even more like an old man than usual. He lost the humor he held a moment ago, his staring eyes instead glazed with pain and blood loss. "I'll try not to let the organization down then."

Kalifa was done with the bandages so Jyabura set him back down on the ground (that was the best term for whatever it was beneath them) and stood up. Kaku just looked so _defeated_ that Jyabura figured he should go easy on him; after all every one of them had gotten crushed by those damn pirates... except Lucci. Jyabura hated to admit it, but he couldn't see Rob Lucci losing to anyone.

"You're too late for that," he told Kaku in a more reasonable voice. Did the kid just wince? Kalifa was glaring at him again as well; he seemed to be pissing her off a lot today. That was a little harsh though, so he added, "We all are… I guess it doesn't matter anymore." Wait, that might sound like he was telling Kaku to just give up. "You can't die though, you hear? Not until I've kicked your ass!"

Kaku blinked up at him and broke into a smile again, making a soft sound that was barely a chuckle. "Well then," he said, "I'll live to be a _very _old man indeed."

"Shut up!" Jyabura yelled at him, "You have no right to say shit like that, just look at you! How many times did you let that swordsman hit you, hunh?"

"He only landed two blows," Kaku answered.

The others stared at him in surprise. "But Kaku, you have to have at least a dozen wounds," said Kalifa.

"Not counting where he grazed my side, there should be nine."

"How do you know the exact number?" asked Jyabura. "Were you counting or something?"

"I know," he said with some amusement, "because nine is the number of swords he was holding."

No one said anything for a moment as they all took in this strange admission. Finally Jyabura could keep his mouth shut no longer. "You've lost it. You're nuts."

"If you wish to question someone's sanity, you should take a good look at your own," Kaku retorted. He was getting visibly frustrated, but his voice was weakening. Just talking like this was draining him.

Jyabura opened his mouth to start yelling again, but Kalifa cut him off. "You keep behaving like an ignoramus," she said, "and the last thing Kaku needs right now is to get caught up in one of your squabbles. Go argue with Fukurou some more if you need to vent that badly," she met his eyes with a long, cold, piercing gaze. Around headquarters she had the nickname 'the Barbed Wire Princess,' which had nothing to do with her weapon of choice. Right now she was living up to it. "But what you should be doing is looking after Kumadori, seeing as you _are_ his partner and you keep refusing to actually _help_ him."

Jyabura just gritted his teeth. He wanted to yell some more, and he really wanted to deck her, but neither of those options would get him anywhere. She was right, Kaku needed to rest and Kumadori… the pink-haired moron was always going on about how he was an immortal Sennin, and years ago Jyabura thought he was nuts for it. However, nowadays that was becoming doubtful. Kumadori was like the fungus that wouldn't quit, and he would probably rebound from this in no time. Still, Jyabura figured he should check on him, seeing as he wasn't awake yet.

"What's the matter with Kumadori?" Kaku asked once the older man had gone.

Kalifa sat down next to him, making herself comfortable, and began to brief him on the situation as far as she knew it.


	2. Save Rob Lucci?

**Here we go. Chapter 2, and it's probably one of the longest I've ever written. From this point on, anyone who's read far enough into the manga should know what's going on. For the rest of you *Spoiler Alert***

**Don't own, just toy with.**

**Hope you enjoy.**

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They didn't wait very long, but time is a difficult thing to measure in a place where it normally doesn't exist. Finally the bombardment seemed to end, leaving only the billowy stuff that represented smoke and fire. A little while after they noticed the change, a crack appeared in their midst. The large, door shaped aperture hung a foot or so off the ground. It was sturdily fixed as though the empty space was solid as a wall, and somehow managed to seem perfectly normal as it opened to let in a refreshing gust of sea salt and smoke filled air.

Through it stepped a tall, heavyset man; Blueno. A white pigeon wearing a black tie sat perched on the left prong of his bull-horn shaped black hair, and in his arms he carried a very unconscious and battered looking Rob Lucci.

Kalifa, Jyabura, and Fukurou sat in wide-eyed, shocked silence as Blueno deposited his cargo on the ground and closed his airdoor behind him. Jyabura was the first to recover his voice. "No way," he uttered. "No way, what the hell happened?"

"He fought Straw-hat," Blueno answered calmly, "and he lost."

"Like hell!" Jyabura sprang to his feet, pointing at Blueno in furious disbelief. "That can't happen, not against some nobody kid! It would mean… it would mean…"

"That we've been defeated," Kaku finished for him. "You shouldn't sound so surprised. Look at how the rest of us fared, and only against a few crew members."

The scar faced man lowered his arm and sank to his knees. "But, the Buster Call," he whimpered, "those pirates, the Buster Call got them, right?"

Blueno shook his head.

Kaku slowly sat up, panting from the exertion, and asked, "How did they escape?"

"I can hardly believe what happened," said Blueno in his deep, expressionless voice. "I heard something call out to them, and when they jumped off the Bridge of Hesitation, their ship was somehow there waiting for them. Since they got away on it, the Marines have called off the bombardment."

Jyabura and Fukurou didn't find the news overly impressive, but Kalifa was gaping and Kaku tilted his head down so his face was hidden by the brim of his cap.

"Their ship?" the woman said. "The one with the ram figurehead?"

"Yes, that one."

"Kaku, did you lie to them about it?" she asked.

But Kaku shook his head. "Of course not."

"Chapa, I don't get it. What's the big deal?" Fukurou interjected.

"I evaluated that ship while we were still under cover," explained Kaku. "The keel was so badly damaged that it should not have made it this far even on calm waters, and yet it got here through the Aqua Laguna on its own. It's quite incredible really."

"Incredible?" said Kalifa, "I think you mean impossible!"

Kaku crossed his arms. "Not as much as you'd think. Do you know why I released it into the ocean?"

Kalifa blinked at him, unsure of how to answer.

"You were acting strangely," said Blueno, as though that was the only reason needed.

Kalifa slowly spoke up. "I thought it was that you were angry over your diagnostic being ignored."

"Only it's unusual for you to be so pointlessly cruel," added Blueno.

"It might have looked that way, but cruelty was not my intention. That ship… it had such a strong aura of sadness and pain that I thought it wished to die at sea."

The only sound permeating the silence that followed this was Jyabura's snickers. "Yep," he said, "I called it. You're nuts!"

Kaku ignored that and muttered more to himself than anyone, "So it did have a Klabautermann. I should have known better than to let it go."

"Eh? A clobber-what-man?" said Jyabura, choking down his laughter.

"Kla-bau-ter-mann," Blueno corrected. "It's a ship sprite from old seafaring legends, but Kaku, you actually believe in such things?"

Kaku shrugged. "It's not so difficult when you realize there are still people who consider Devil Fruits as legends and nonsense. Jyabura, weren't you talking about the will to overcome death only a little while ago? This is a similar principal. When a person cares about something deeply enough they leave a part of their will within it, endowing it with a spirit of its own. In a ship, this is called a Klabautermann."

His words took a moment for the others to digest. Even though it seemed ridiculous to be hearing such fanciful superstitions out of the ever sensible Kaku, they couldn't deny his point about Devil Fruits, and after all, they were currently sitting in a non-existent antispace. Compared to that, anything was easy to believe.

As for things like 'will' and 'spirit,' or Haki as they were sometimes called, the World Government's official position was that such things were rumors born of exaggeration. However, behind the scenes where only organizations such as Cipher Pol 9 had access, these phenomenon were being seriously considered. Even the prestigious Dr. Vegapunk had done research on them, and reports that many vice-admirals and captains drew their incredible power from such things certainly didn't aid in disbelief.

After long consideration Jyabura scowled and crossed his arms. "Hmph, I still say you're nuts."

"No matter. They escaped, that's all we need to understand," replied Kaku.

Fukurou towered over the others from behind and looked at the back of each of their heads as though waiting for something to grow out of them. Finally he said, "What about the Chief, chapapa?"

Jyabura snorted, but the other two looked startled that they had not even thought of asking about him.

Blueno's face never changed, but there was a subtle, almost imperceptible difference in the expression of his eyes that only Kalifa could pick up on. He was smirking. "Cutty Flam dropped Funk Freed on him."

That did it. The image of Spandam squished beneath his precious elephant-sword was too much for Jyabura and he burst into laughter.

"It's not funny!" Kalifa snapped at him. Meanwhile she held her hand over her mouth to hide the traitorous smile that was forming there. Blueno caught this and decided, not to tell them about the 'bitch-slap from hell' their boss also received courtesy of Nico Robin. He would save that for a more appropriate time.

Kaku did not look amused. "Did he survive?" he asked.

"Perhaps. It looked bad, but the Marines did take him with them."

The young man's face darkened beneath his cap, a pensive frown on his lips. Minus Jyabura (who was still hysterical), the others noticed the change in him. It was Kalifa who asked what was wrong.

"Nothing," he answered. "Just a thought. It's best not to worry about such things." The ill mood passed and he looked up with a bit more concern in his eyes. "Besides, Spandam isn't the most pressing matter. What about Lucci?"

Blueno sighed and closed his eyes, his ever present frown only deepening. "He barely seemed alive when I picked him up. It might be a coma."

"Who cares?" interjected a still snickering Jyabura. "The loser's probably playing dead so he doesn't have to face us. I'll show you!" He went over to Lucci's side, crouched down, ignored the pigeon, Hattori's cooing protests, and started poking the unmoving man in the side of the head. "Oi, quite dicking arou… hunh? Wait a minute…" He leaned in for a closer look and then sat back, scratched his head and said, "Well shit!"

"What? What's wrong?" pressed Kaku. He was having trouble with sitting up and suddenly trying to move caused him to sway dangerously. Fukurou placed a hand on his shoulder to keep him still.

"He pulled a Kumadori," Jyabura said in disbelief. "The Eternal Trance, or whatever it's called."

"Repose of One Thousand Years?"

His brow crinkled as he blinked at Kaku's correction. "Yeah, that. But cat-boy can't do Life Return!"

"Not true," said Kaku. "Right before we went undercover, Lucci had Kumadori teach him the fundamentals. However, he only wanted to refine his half-beast form. I didn't know he had mastered it enough to do something like this."

"Then will he be alright?" Kalifa asked. "Can we bring him out of it? Does he need a doctor?"

Jyabura closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath through his nose. His face was one of thought as he slowly let the air out. When he opened his eyes once more he threw up his hands and said, "Beats me."

His teammates looked like the anticlimax had hit them over the head.

"All I know," he went on, "is that Kumadori pulls this every now and then when he wants to be _really _dramatic. He explained it once, but to hell if I remember."

"Can you at least _try_ to snap Lucci out of it?" ventured Kalifa.

"Heh, I don't think it'll work as well as it does on ole' pink locks over there."

Kalifa sighed and pressed her fingers into the bridge of her nose (the next best thing to adjusting her glasses). "Therefore the only one who can help him is in the same situation… Jyabura," she said, fixing her stern eyes on him, "You _have _to wake Kumadori."

The scar faced man bared his teeth at her, one of his eyes growing wide while the other squinted. He even went so far as to make a noise in his throat like a growl. He then shut his eyes, crossed his arms, and forced himself to calm down. "Fine, whatever," he muttered as he stomped over to his partner.

"Ah, wait," Fukurou called to him before he could do anything. "The rest of us should get back."

"Why?" Kaku asked, looking over his shoulder at him.

"You'll see."

"Then would you help me put my jacket back on."

"But it's all cut up and full of blood, chapapa!"

Fukurou looked down at Kaku like he was insane, but Kalifa had an idea as to the problem and did as he requested. He thanked her and was going to try to stand, but Fukurou ignored his protests and picked him up bridal style. Blueno did something similar with Lucci.

"Chapa, we're good," Fukurou said after moving a few feet away and putting Kaku on the ground once more.

Jyabura nodded. He turned to look down on the prone form of Kumadori with a posture that suggested he was ready to spring away at the first sign of movement. After a beat to compose himself, he opened his mouth and yelled, "Listen up! I heard your mom was so stupid that she – UUUAAAGH!!!"

The spot where Jyabura was standing would have been reduced to a crater were it actual ground. Instead it domed downwards and started rippling under the force of a suddenly conscious and irate Kumadori's fist. Jyabura himself had invoked Soru immediately after letting out his startled cry, and was now several feet away.

"DO NO INSULT MY MOTHER!!!"the sennin bellowed. He invoked Soru as well and attacked with a few more deadly punches, a Rankyaku or two, and some Shigans thrown in for good measure. Though Jyabura was the more powerful of the two, he just didn't have Kumadori's momentary bloodlust and had to settle for dodging.

Their comrades watched the 'battle' with quizzical eyes. "Did that really just happen?" Kaku asked to himself.

Kalifa massaged the bridge of her nose again and said, "I should have guessed he'd do something ridiculous."

"Last time Jyabura didn't move fast enough and was impaled. He almost died, chapapa," Fukurou explained.

When Jyabura unwisely stopped moving to tell Fukurou to shut it, and almost got skewered by a Shigan aimed at his face, that's when Kalifa decided she had better step in and explain.

Yelling out, "_LION SHIGAN!!!" _Kumadori focused until his wild pink hair took the form of a dozen hands, all with the index fingers extended. He never finished the attack though. He was not so far gone that he couldn't realize the willowy blond standing in front of him was not his target.

"Please stop this," she said. She held her hands out in a placating manner. "Jyabura meant no disrespect. You were in a trance and I asked him to bring you out of it. This is my fault."

He stared at her until one by one the hands turned back into the usual mass of unruly hair. Once he returned to himself he started swaying and, with his hand on his forehead, fell backwards onto his but. "Yoi, what _happened_," he drawled.

"You tried to kill me dumbass!" Jyabura snapped at him. He simply moaned in response.

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Blueno was not paying attention to most of the fight. He had been around long enough, and had seen Kumadori fly into a rage over Jyabura insulting his mother enough times to know those two wouldn't truly harm each other. Instead he took notice of his surroundings (or rather the reality corresponding to his surroundings). The others probably would not have been able to recognize most of what was on the other side, but he had no trouble at all. He waited patiently as his partner, Kalifa gave an extremely abridged version of the current situation, and as soon as she was finished he got everyone's attention with a quick, "Excuse me."

He wasn't the type of man to blush or act awkwardly, but he did feel a large amount of discomfort when they turned to him. He definitely did not like talking as much as he was forced to do that day. It was necessary though, especially considering how long they had already spent in between his doors.

"The fires have stopped. We should leave," he said.

Kaku was lying on his back once more, exhausted from being moved around, but he managed to raise his head and ask, "Can't we stay here for now? The island might not be safe yet."

"No," Blueno answered. "You've all been here too long already. There is no air in this place; no ground, or walls, or even time. You only perceive these things because you expect them; the longer you stay here the more you loose your grasp on them and the more disorienting it becomes when they return."

"Whoa, no air?" gaped Jyabura. "Blueno, what are you saying? What is this place?"

"I'm curious of that as well," added Kaku.

"It's difficult to explain, and Lucci still needs to be looked after." He really hoped that would be enough for them, but could tell by their stern faces it was not. He sighed and pulled out a small note book and a pen from inside his jacket. On a sheet of paper he ripped out he drew two dots far apart and then held it up to show everyone. "Very well then. What is the shortest distance between these two points?"

He waited while they thought about it and wasn't surprised when Jyabura was the first to crack. "Let me see that!" he said as he snatched the paper away. He held it close to his face and scanned it with focused eyes before scowling up at Blueno. "What're you trying to pull? The only answer is a straight line. Did you expect us to suggest zigzags or something, like retards?"

"It's obviously a trick question," Kaku informed him. Yet he didn't attempt to answer.

Kalifa had this explained to her before, and still didn't completely understand, so she wasn't saying anything. Kumadori was still digesting everything that had happened, and didn't care. Strangely enough, it was Fukurou who piped up with the solution. "It's simple, chapa. Fold the paper so the points are touching."

Jyabura's eyes widened in shock, but he did as was suggested.

"Yes," said Kaku, "I was about to suggest that as well."

Jyabura bared his teeth at him. "Yeah right, and me and Lucci are best buds!"

Fukurou interrupted before they could get going. "I see, I see. So your doors are the ability to jump between the dots? And this place is the emptiness you have to move through, chapapa?"

"Yes," said Blueno. "Distance does not exist here so this place can pull two points together as you have just seen, or one can 'leave the paper' and move through that emptiness as we are doing now."

Jyabura looked at the folded paper in his hands. "Oooooh, I get it."

"No you don't," Kaku, Kalifa, and Fukurou all stated at the same time.

The older man once again started yelling at them, and once again they ignored him.

Blueno picked up Lucci and tucked him under his arm. To those who were listening, he said, "If you're satisfied then we really must leave." He turned his back on them and put his hand out. At first it simply moved through the air, but then it connected with something solid and flat. He pushed, and a crack appeared, soon opening up into a door wide and tall enough for him to easily step through.

Once he was on the other side Blueno had to struggle to keep his equilibrium and it took him a moment before he was at ease enough to even prop Lucci against some nearby rubble. Jyabura bounded after him and was immediately floored, so he ordered the rest of them to wait. He went in and out once more, this time carrying Kaku, and then one by one they followed. Soon the ground was littered with CP9 members in various states of illness, the most severe being Jyabura who was writhing in pain and trying not to throw up.

Kumadori was the least effected because he had only been conscious in that place for a few minutes and therefore never got used to it. Given this, he went straight to work inspecting Lucci. Slowly the others recovered and situated themselves in more comfortable positions around the ruins as they awaited his verdict.

His form of inspection was a strange one. He sat in the lotus position facing his charge, placed his right hand on the man's head, and held his left in front of himself with the first two fingers pointing up, closed his eyes, and started chanting.

Kaku managed to sit up only with a little help from Kalifa. "What is he doing?" he asked.

Jyabura just shrugged, but Fukurou whispered, "Another Life Return, I think. He can extend his body's energy into someone else if he meditates like that, chapapa. It's handy for figuring out how someone is injured… and also for stopping their heart."

Kumadori sighed and came out of his trance. He got up, stepped back to lean on a bit of crumbled wall and said, "Yoyoi, _the situaation is veery graave." _It must have been too, because he didn't pull any poses as he said this. He began explaining to them first the nature of Respite of One Thousand Years and then Rob Lucci's condition.

Halfway through, he started knocking his staff against the ground, causing the rings on the head of it to make sharp clinking sounds. Kaku perked up and say, "He didn't have that a minute ago."

To which Jyabura explained with, "Don't ask."

As far as the story went, some old monk climbed a mountain and meditated so deeply that he sat in perfect stasis for one thousand years. The technique that was developed basically counted on Life Return's ability to control even things like hair and blood, keeping a skilled user alive for months despite mortal wounds. But because Lucci hadn't perfected the technique, he would only last a week at most. He was also in desperate need of medical attention, or he wouldn't survive more than a couple of hours once the trance wore off.

The whole thing took roughly twenty minutes and felt like watching a theatre performance.

"At least we have some time to work with," said Kalifa once it was over.

"Bah, I don't know what you're so concerned about." Jyabura was standing by and glaring at the object of the discussion. "This is _Rob_ freaking _Lucci_ we're talking about, and the man's a psychopath, remember?"

"Technically so are you," Kaku added, letting some anger seep into his voice.

"That's not what I mean. Get him cured and the first thing he's gonna do once he wakes up and realizes he's lost to somebody is go on a bloody rampage. Hell, with the way he usually is he'll probably kill himself for being weak and take all of us with him. You already know I have no love for the man, and I'm not gonna start pretending just because he's hurt. I say screw Lucci."

"Wait, where are you going?" Kalifa grabbed his arm as he started to walk away.

"To get help. There has to be Marines around looking for survivors, and I might not care what happens to _him_," he spat, "but he's not the only one who needs a doctor right now."

Slowly she let him go. What he was saying was sound. _Everything_ he just said was sound.

"I'll go with you," offered Blueno. He hopped off the stairs he'd been sitting on and made his way from the group.

Kaku was sitting with his arms crossed and his eyes hidden throughout this, but before the two got very far he called out to them. "Jyabura, if you see Marines or anyone from the World Government, you should avoid them, at least for now."

"Hunh? Why? In case you forgot, the quickest way to medical attention would be through the Marines. Why should I avoid them?"

"Spandam may be alive," Kaku answered.

Jyabura noticed that Kaku wasn't looking at anything, and was instead staring forward with wide, unfocused eyes. There was seriously something strange going on in the young man's head. "And what's he got to do with it?"

"We all know what he's like," Kaku said. "If he is alive, who will he blame this on?"

The others all bowed their heads. Surely that wouldn't happen, right? And yet, it was a weighty prospect to think about. Jyabura bared his teeth and growled before saying, "Fine, but I'm still checking things out."

With that he and Blueno walked away.


	3. Line of Escape

**I realize I should have mentioned this earlier. This is basically a very detailed retelling of the "CP9 Independent Report" cover arc from chapters 491 to 528. So some of it is canon and alot of it is not. I forgot some people haven't gotten that far in the manga yet. Sorry...**

**Remember, there's no pairing here. Sorry to all you hopefuls out there.**

**Man I'm apoligizing alot today.**

**Oh, and I don't own One Piece.**

**Hope you enjoy.**

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* * *

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As soon as the Marines set foot on Enies Lobby, they knew this was going to be one hell of a job. It was the island of perpetual sunshine after all, and the day had been sweltering to begin with. Add to that the fires continually blazing and the heat still radiating off the ruins, and you had a guaranteed uncomfortable time. The only thing that could make it all worse was the prospect that they had to search the _entire_ island for survivors that probably didn't exist.

Most of the teams were focusing on what was left of the Tower of Justice, but a handful were sent ahead to the town proper. In one of these groups, a younger Ensign kicked over some rubble and, when he found nothing underneath, grumbled, "This sucks."

Another, slightly older friend of his was keeping an eye on him as he was slightly removed from the others and getting further every moment.

"Why do we have to come all the way over here anyways?" the younger man asked himself. "If any of those Secret Agent guys are alive, they'd be in the Tower."

"Apparently, there were reports that one of them was thrown into the courtyard," his friend explained to him.

He sighed and stared tiredly at the expanse of destruction they were going to have to root through. "CP9," he said, "Everyone told me they didn't exist."

"Officially, they don't. That's why this search is so important."

"Hey, you two!" interrupted the powerful voice of the Government Agent in charge. They both turned to where he and the rest of the unit were gathered several yards away. "Get back over here!" he hollered. Once they rejoined the ranks he glared around at the Marines and the handful of black clad Agents and said, "Now then, everyone stay close together, and remember who it is we're dealing with. If we find one of them and he happens to be the traitor, you'll be dead before you can blink!"

"That's why we're moving in these big groups, right sir?" piped in one of the younger and more eager Ensigns. He immediately brought to mind an excited schoolboy, what with his thick round glasses and the way he was bouncing up and down like that.

"Yeah, sure kid. Good job." The Agent really couldn't blame him for his enthusiasm. That day probably saw more action than most of them ever imagined. In fact, it was safe to bet it would go down in history. Still, it should have been Vice-Admirals and Captains out there looking for the Government's monsters, not this sorry lot. To the Agent, who was an older man wizened by years of service, it felt like he was marching these kids to the slaughter.

The Ensign who wandered off earlier was speaking again. "I still can't believe one of the World Government's top… assassins," it felt strange to say that word seriously, "would go rogue."

"Believe it," his friend said. "CP9's chief - Spanda I think his name was - confirmed it."

"Yeah, but weren't you watching what went down on the bridge? He's probably suffering from head trauma or something."

"It doesn't matter. Orders are orders."

One of their comrades, the one with his Marine cap on backwards, was listening in and added, "Besides, there's no way those Pirates could have done what they did without inside help. It had to be one of them. More than one if you ask me."

Ahead of them the peppy kid was keeping stride with the Agent. "Um, sir?" he asked. "I was wondering; if we find one of these guys, what if he's the traitor, but acts like he's not? How would we know, sir?"

The Agent grunted. It was going to be too long of a day for him to put up with this. He would answer the kid though, and would keep doing so till the job was done or he went insane. He was a nice guy, even if he hated himself for it.

"It won't matter," he said. "I heard that they're all bound for Impel Down, and a good thing too. It could be impossible to tell which might turn on us, and even if the chance is only 2%, they're just too dangerous to take that risk."

* * *

"Bastard!" Jyabura exclaimed in a hushed voice. "I'm gonna rip his throat out and piss in it! I'm gonna –"

"Keep your voice down," Blueno interrupted.

The scarred man did as he was told. Silently he shifted against the crumbled wall he was hiding behind so that he had a better view of the Marines. The two men only had to walk for about twenty minutes before running into this group, and after hearing what they had to say, Jyabura wanted dearly to rush over there in his half-beast form and rip every one of them to shreds.

Blueno must have sensed his desire because he said, "Don't even think about it. We'd have the entire fleet on us."

Jyabura made no sign of acknowledgement. Instead his eyes narrowed viciously and he licked his lips. He was so close… so close to going wild that he could taste it. "Damn," he said in a soft, icy growl, "haven't been this pissed off in a _long_ time. Spandam, I doubt you can here this, but you are gonna rue the day you used _me_ as a scapegoat. I'll make sure you suffer for as long as a man can."

Though he said nothing and didn't feel as violent, Blueno agreed.

Finally Jyabura wrenched his eyes away from his prey and moved cautiously out of range of the large group. "That's it," he whispered, "Let's fetch the gang and get out of here."

Blueno nodded. Once they were well away from where anyone would see, he put his hand out, focused on pulling together that spot and one he memorized from where the others were waiting, and opened a door.

"You're back already?" Kalifa asked when they stepped through. She definitely did not like the angry looks on their faces.

Kumadori extended a hand with the fingers splayed and said in his loud voice, "Yoyoi, _what did you_ _fiiiind_?"

"Oi, keep it down!" Jyabura shouted at him in an equally loud voice. Kumadori tilted his head to the side, curiosity filling his one good eye. Blueno was back to his usual quiet self, so it fell to him to say it. "Kaku was right," he told them all in a much quieter tone. "If we don't leave now we'll wind up dead or worse; in prison."

While most of his team members shared looks of grim resignation, Fukurou alone fumed. With his eyes scrunched and his fists balled he stood gritting his golden teeth.

"How do we get off the island?" asked Kalifa. "We don't have a ship."

Jyabura grinned and suggested taking one from the Marines.

"You idiot," she said. "We're in no condition for something like that."

"And once again, it would bring the entire fleet on us," added Blueno.

In response, the older man turned away and sulked. He wanted to cause some carnage, not run away with his tail between his legs. When he did this though, he caught sight of something that was definitely not good. "O-oi! What're you doing!?!" he yelled, catching everyone else's attention.

They had time to see a huge mass of black and green movement before there came a powerful roar of "CHAPAPAAAA!!!" and one of the more intact of the nearby structures burst into a plume of debris.

"What did I just say about being quiet?!?" Jyabura screamed at Fukurou who was standing in the middle of the settling dust, panting and trembling with rage.

"Sorry," he breathed, his voice sounding much more gravelly and dangerous, "I'm just so _mad_, chapa!"

Jyabura just 'hmph'ed. "Aren't we all…" he said, "but loosing control like that is pathetic."

"Someone probably heard that," interjected Kalifa. "We're moving away from here." Next to her Blueno had a door open onto an expanse of ruins almost identical to the one they were in except that the ocean could be seen just beyond it. He stepped through it while she went over to Kaku's side. "How, are you feeling? Can you stand up?" Her brow furrowed when he didn't respond. She gingerly placed a hand on his shoulder and said his name. His head was lowered, so perhaps he had passed out? But no; though his eyes were shadowed by his cap, she could see that they were open. "Kaku?" she repeated more frantically.

"I'm alright," he told her softly, though he didn't look it. He was pale and vacant, like he was on the cusp of shock.

"Kumadori, could you help me with him?" she asked the Sennin before he could step through the door.

"_Of course, Kalifa,"_ he answered as went to them.

Kaku said, "I can stand," and did just that, albeit slowly. He was shaking and unsteady, and would have fallen on his face had Kalifa not gripped his arm and held him up.

"_Hmmmm_, _You were wounded in battle. Now is the time for you to rest_. Yoyoi," Kumadori slowly said, but instead of actually lifting Kaku, he took the younger man's arm and slung it over his shoulders. Because he was so much taller he had to bend down quite a bit to do this, but made it work.

Kaku snapped out of it enough to give him thankful glance before starting the slow task of walking. He only went a few steps before he stopped, but it wasn't from fatigue. His head jerked up like he just realized something and he looked over his shoulder. Jyabura was there, tugging Fukurou along with him. "Don't forget Lucci," Kaku said.

Jyabura stopped and looked to the prone man on the ground. "No way. If we're on the run, it's bad enough that we have you to look after. We don't need his dead weight too."

Kaku frowned and said, "We're not leaving him here."

"Look, it's one thing to say we'll help him when there's a chance, but at this rate we might never get him to a doctor on time and then we'll have hauled him around for nothing."

Something changed. Kaku's eyes focused in on him and suddenly it was as though the sunny, sweltering day turned to ice. Though Kaku could give off a very threatening vibe when he wanted to (as expected from any assassin), this was different. It was the same effect that Lucci's death glare often had on people, and that's where Jyabura figured he must have picked it up. "We are not leaving him here," he said in a cold, even tone.

The hairs on Jyabura's neck were standing, but he ignored it. "You're not the boss here," he barked.

Kaku slid his arm off of Kumadori and turned to face him fully, somehow managing to keep himself steady. "Neither are you."

"Is that a challenge?" Jyabura bent his knees. It was a small gesture, but it meant he was ready to strike.

Kaku widened his stance. "Merely an observation," he answered coolly. "We no longer have a boss, or did you forget that in the five minutes since you announced it?" There was no way he would be able to fight and it was actually the last thing he wanted, but he figured that wouldn't stop Jyabura from attacking. If that happened he would at least try to dodge the first blow and hopefully give one of the others time to step in. If he failed, he would probably die… oh well.

Luckily Kalifa and Kumadori were way ahead of him. "Enough!" the woman said sternly as she again took hold of Kaku's arm. "You can barely stand."

Kumadori stepped between the two would be combatants. _"Jyabura, I am – I am – I am ashamed of you!"_ he exclaimed. As he spoke he went though a series of movements with an elegant accompaniment of drums… at least in his head. _"_YOYOI, _Kaku is right. Abandoning a comrade is not an honorable thing to do!" _

"He's not your comrade, moron," Jyabura said almost wearily, but then instantly bounced back to mad. "HEY!"

Fukurou had walked past with Lucci in his arms and a grieving Hattori on his head. He was still seriously disgruntled and didn't even look at the others as he growled, "We can decide what to do with him once we're safe." He was through the door before anyone could argue.

Kaku closed his eyes, having the grace to look relieved and grateful, and then went into another coughing fit.

He could barely breathe and the spasms were agony to his chest. That entire part of him suddenly felt like it was filled with hot coals and Kalifa, who still had hold of him, barely managed to stop him from collapsing. "You shouldn't have pushed yourself." She failed to keep all the empathy out of her voice.

He sank to his knees with his arms pressed tightly to his injuries, but he remained calm and soon started breathing once more. He could feel Kumadori and Kalifa over him. He held his hand out to keep them back. "I'm… I'm fine," he managed to choke out as he stood back up.

He wasn't though. He was trembling, his body felt hot and heavy, weak. It _hurt_. It was nothing beyond what he could handle, but he hadn't been in this much pain since his first mission… which he didn't need to think about.

Still, he made it though the door with only a little help from Kumadori. Once they found a good spot, an alleyway that was still blocked from view by the surrounding buildings, he let himself collapse with his back against a wall and his long legs stretched out in front of him.

Kalifa was the first to speak. "So, how do we get out of here?" she asked.

_"Could we not travel to the next island through Blueno's other realm?"_ Kumadori suggested.

But Jyabura blanched and said, "No way! There's no way I'm going back in that Jell-O land!"

"With the amount of time it would take, the readjustment would kill us," Blueno explained. Before the others could ask, he added, "And there is a range limitation to pulling two doors together."

They went quiet, everyone wracking their brains for a solution. It wasn't like they could just fly off the island, and too many of them were Devil Fruit users for swimming to be feasible. It looked like taking a ship might be the only means, but even Jyabura had to admit he was too injured and exhausted for such a thing.

Kaku was recuperating from his brief spell. The combination of pain and apprehension was keeping him distracted, but he noticed the silence in the others and looked blearily around at their defeated faces. It took him a moment to gather enough breath to speak. Finally he said, "The Sea Train tracks."

"Of course," Kalifa perked up, trying not to look embarrassed that she hadn't though of it.

Kumadori considered it carefully. He didn't know much about technology so the structure of the tracks was beyond him. "_Is that even possible, _Yoyoi?"

Kaku nodded. "I've run them now and then."

"That's stupid. Why would you do something like that?" Jyabura grouched.

"Water 7 wasn't big enough for a good workout," he shrugged weakly.

"It doesn't matter anyways." Kalifa put her fingers on her temple, forgetting there were no glasses there to adjust. "The Sea Train won't be operating this evening after all of this, and St Poplar is only a few miles away. If we walk through the night we will reduce our chances of being spotted and we should reach it by morning. There's also a good Doctor's office there."

Jyabura was not happy with the idea, but the only problem he could think of was that Kaku had suggested it. "Fine then, we walk the tracks," he relented, and then jerked his head in Lucci's direction. "Now what do we do with him?"

"We're not leaving him," Kaku said automatically.

"AUGH!" Jyabura cried out and threw his hands in the air. "Listen to you! You're like a broken den den mushi! Get this through you're head: Lucci – will – kill – us!"

"You don't know that."

"Yes I do! You know why? Because for the last fifteen years he's been the leading cause of death in this agency! Guess how many of his partners survived the first day. Just one," by this time he was in Kaku's face, "and I still haven't figured out how the hell you did it!"

"So, you're that frightened of him," Kaku said in a calculated tone.

Jyabura surprisingly did not look angered by that. Instead he backed off a little. "I'm not stupid; I know how strong he is. If he decides he wants us dead, we die. End of story."

Kaku closed his eyes and sighed. No one else said anything; they didn't know what to say. They were all too aware of how dead on Jyabura was, and now it was just a matter of how Kaku would take it.

"I don't care if I die," he said calmly, "and seeing the inside of Impel Down could be interesting." He looked his adversary in the eye with an easy smile on his face. "If you leave Lucci here, you leave me as well."

The little alley was filled with nothing but stunned silence. Looking out for each other was one thing, but that much loyalty, and to Rob Lucci of all people was not something they expected.

"Why do you care? What would it matter if you died here for him?" Jyabura was staring with something more intense than his usual superficial anger. His voice sounded almost… sorry for Kaku. "I know you're partners. I get the whole loyalty gig. I do. But we're talking about someone who doesn't deserve, or even _want_ it from anyone! If you're situations were reversed, he'd ditch you without a second thought."

"You're probably right," Kaku said. He looked smug when Jyabura stood there with his jaw hanging open. No doubt that was the last thing the man expected. "But I don't base my actions on what someone else would or would not do. There is a very high chance that Lucci would abandon me were he the one talking right now. There's also an equally high chance that he will kill us. However, that's not the issue here." He had to stop to let out a few coughs before he could continue. "I knew you were an idiot, but I never took you for a coward. Since when has a little risk meant anything to us? Oh, and by the way, I _have_ been in his situation before, and I'm still here am I not? So don't tell me your little predictions couldn't possibly be wrong. And that leaves me with my problem. Were I to back down simply because there was a _chance_ I might die, than I would have to live with the regret. _That_ is something I refuse to do."

Even once the effort of saying so much caused him another fit, his words hung in the air like a heavy gong and reverberated deep within his teammates.

Kalifa was the first to say anything. "I agree with Kaku,"

"As do I," followed Blueno.

Fukurou had zipped him mouth shut to keep himself from interrupting the exchange. He undid it, crossed his arms, and said, "I didn't want to leave Lucci in the first place, chapapa."

Off in a corner, Kumadori was actually crying. He had his hands fisted against the ground and his head lowered as he mumbled what sounded like poetry about sakura blossoms and mountains withstanding the wind. No one was listening to him.

Jyabura schooled his expression as he eyed Kaku with a calculating look. After the two stared each other down for a long moment, he smirked. "Oh, you're good," he said with a certain amount of respect. "Alright, Kaku wins this one. Now let's get the hell out of here."

But Kalifa shook her head. "Not until the sun is lower. For now we should rest."

Rest actually sounded like a very good idea, so despite the fact that he was being overruled again, he grumbled, "Fine," and sat down.

No one was really talking much. It felt strange to have the whole team together in one place and actually accompanied by peaceful quiet. It was a nice change.

Jyabura traced his fingers along his mustache and used the opportunity to think. He had acted like he was fine a moment ago, but in all honesty, Kaku had snuck up on him; he didn't like that. Thinking back to those first three years, the boy was never even spared a second glance. He was just the baby of CP9, Lucci's sidekick, and with the curly, carrot colored mop of hair, those wide eyes, and that strange rectangular nose; he was a bazaar one at that. He was just a scrawny, goofy looking teenager. The only thing remarkable about him was that he was still alive.

Then suddenly that morning he was revealed as the second strongest member of CP9. He even became a Devil Fruit user (though a strange one). Jyabura had thought he might have been too hasty in worrying about it after he saw the condition Kaku was in. But now… was he just kidding himself?

He was going to have to rethink his position on the younger man.

As his mind wandered, Kumadori finished his emotional session and started to check on the object of these current thoughts. Kaku went along with it, but didn't look like he was all there. Something was wrong, and Jyabura could smell the caustic odor of uneasiness that hung over him. He was worried about something, but if it had anything to do with Lucci or their current situation than Jyabura would Shigan himself in the head.

Whatever it was, as long as it didn't affect the rest of them, than he didn't care.

Apparently Kaku's wounds had started bleeding again because Kumadori was changing the bandages (and doing a much better job). Kalifa on the other hand had ripped up more of her sheet to serve as clean ones, and now she had little left to cover herself with.

Jyabura felt himself switching back into nice guy mode. "Oi, Kalifa," he said as he slipped of his shirt, got up, and held it out to her. "Here."

She blandly looked from the tattered garment to him and quirked an eyebrow in question so he continued. "If we need to run or fight, you won't be much use in that sad bit of cloth you've got."

A little surprised, she took it from him with a polite, "Thank you." At first everything seemed good, and then she dropped the sheet.

The reaction was immediate. Jyabura screamed and darted backwards from her to hide behind some rubble. At the same time Kaku let out a yell of his own, but being unable to turn around or run, all he could do was press his eyes shut and turn his head away. He even blocked his line of sight with his hand as though he didn't trust himself not to peek.

Kumadori was wailing, "_OH KALIFA, FORGIVE ME! NOTHING WILL EVER CLENSE THE DISHONOR FROM MY EYES SO I SHALL TAKE MY LIFE AT ONCE, YOOO YOOOIII!!!" _He pulled a tanto blade from his jacket and with a cry of, "_Seppuku!!!"_ plunged it into his stomach. Fortunately he automatically invoked Tekkai so that it failed to pierce his skin. Disheartened, he whimpered, "_I can't die…"_

Blueno simply sighed and averted his eyes, and the brooding Fukurou, who wasn't looking at her in the first place, didn't notice or care.

"What the Hell, Kalifa!!!" yelled Jyabura from safely behind his rubble. "Don't change right in front of us! Go behind a rock or something!"

"That's sexual harassment," she countered as she stripped off the last remnants of her old outfit.

"Yeah, against us, dammit!"

"I'm done," she informed the men, and they tentatively relaxed. The shirt was big enough to hang over her thighs, so that it looked no worse on her than any of her usual outfits.

"Don't do that!" Jyabura scolded her once he came out of his hiding place.

She ignored him in favor of Kaku, who was coughing again. It sounded even worse than the last time, and the new bandages were already becoming soaked through with blood. "Perhaps we shouldn't wait much longer," she suggested.

Kaku however, did not hear her. He knew as soon as it started that this fit was different. Each cough sent a fresh wave of white hot pain through his body as his lungs steadily burned in a cry for oxygen. He was barely aware when he felt himself being shifted. Something tugged on his arms and lifted him, but then the pain increased so much and so suddenly that he blacked out.

* * *

As he returned to his senses he found his chest hurt worse, if that was possible, but he could breath. At first all Kaku could hear was waves, and Hattori's cooing, and… since when did Fukurou have such a colorful vocabulary? The round man was throwing random insults at something, which was far off judging by the volume of his voice.

"Yoyoi_, Not so loud Fukurou. You will draw them to us." _That was definitely Kumadori.

Kaku could figure out his position fairly easily. He was sitting on something (a stick maybe?), with his chest pressed up against something else and his arms strung over it. By the way it was swaying he knew that he was being piggy backed… _great_.

He slowly opened his eyes and blinked the spots from them, but immediately wished he hadn't.

"Why are _you _carrying me?" he groaned.

"Shut up, ingrate," Jyabura practically spat in his face.

He decided to let it slide. The universe was probably coming to an end, but he was too tired to care.

At the sound of more of Fukurou's insults he mustered up enough energy to turn his head and see the ruins of Enies Lobby receding into the distance. "We survived in that?" he said softly.

"Yeah, hard to believe, Hunh?" Jyabura answered him in a voice that was much too loud for their proximity. He did not like being this close to the man. "Oh, and you owe me you're life, by the way," Jyabura offhandedly added.

_Where did that come from?_ Kaku shifted to give him a doubtful look. "I thought that was Blueno."

"Yeah well, Blueno wasn't around when you were choking on your blood back in Jell-O Land, and Kalifa and Fukurou are numbskulls. I was the one who tipped you over so you could spit it out."

"You did?" Kaku's voice was full of disbelief.

Kalifa, who was walking next to them, said "Apparently it's what you do with drunk people."

"Oh," said Kaku. "Of course _you_ would know something like that."

"Shut up or I'll toss you off these tracks," Jyabura threatened evenly.

* * *

They had been walking for a long time. The sun was beginning to dip, and yet they could still see the scorched island off in the distance.

Jyabura was having a hard time of it. Though Kaku was fairly light (surprising considering his height), he was also warm, and getting warmer. This made the already strenuous task of carrying his dead weight into an uncomfortable and sweaty one as well. On top of that, Jyabura's burns were causing his body to tense in pain, not that he would admit they were bothering them.

At least Kaku wasn't talking much. In fact he had fallen silent quite a while back, and Jyabura figured he passed out.

This proved to be false though. Kaku twitched and said, "It's going to rain."

Jyabura said nothing. He knew the heat the young man was generating probably meant he had a fever, and so that random statement must have been the result of delirium.

Kalifa didn't know this so she said, "But Kaku, there's not one cloud in the sky."

Kaku managed a small smile. "There are always clouds up there," he raised a shaky finger to point straight ahead, "They're simply hiding beyond that horizon."

"Shut up," Jyabura snapped at him. "You're just raving right now and we don't need to hear it."

Kaku relaxed, quietly breathing. Just when Jyabura thought he was unconscious he said, "Still, it is going to rain."


	4. Earning Medical Fees

**Here's the next one. It's long and parts were very hard for me to write, so it might not be up to par. I'll be doing more editing on it later.**

**Don't own One Piece.**

**Hope you enjoy.**

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Ceiling tiles are very dull things, especially when they're the lifeless grey kind that Kaku found himself staring at. He wasn't confused or lost. As soon as he woke up he knew exactly where he was.

He was comfortable. That was the first thing that gave it away. Instead of being frozen and wet he was lying in a bed and covered by warm, clean blankets. He wasn't in much pain anymore, but didn't feel like he was healed. It was more like everything that ached had gone numb, and he could bet it was from some sort of drug. His thoughts were coming to him slowly and his body felt completely disconnected the way drugs tend to cause. To test this out he pulled a hand from under the covers and held it above his face. The room was dark, and his vision swam, so that it was almost as hard to see as it was to hold up. With a sigh he let his arm drape back down across his stomach and resigned to wait for whatever was in him to wear off.

In the meantime he made a quick sweep of his surroundings. The white walls, numerous beds, random potted plants, and various medical instruments all confirmed what he knew. He'd seen the inside of the doctor's office once already…

* * *

He could recall Jyabura shouting at someone as Kumadori's piercing voice talked over him. At that point someone, maybe Fukurou or Blueno, had picked him up and moved him back out into the rain. He remembered more the frustration that came from this than the actual event. It was like they were all taking turns lugging him around and he was sick of it.

Things got hazy again after that and the next thing he knew he was propped up in some dark, filthy place. Lucci was nearby, and Fukurou was staring at him with a very sour expression, but everyone else was missing.

"Where are the others," he asked softly.

Fukurou must have been deep in thought because he snapped to attention and replaced his irritation with a look of surprise. "Oh, you're awake already?"

"Yes. Why are we hiding in an alley? And where is everyone?"

Fukurou huffed and looked away from him. "We're not hiding," he said, "We're just keeping out of the rain. Those bastard doctors refused to treat us because we have no money, so Kumadori and the others are trying to earn some, chapapa."

"Then why didn't you wake me?" Kaku asked indignantly. "I can help with something like that. Even if I can't move very well right now, I am not useless."

"Of course you're not, but you need to rest or you'll make your medical fees even more expensive. As for me, I got stuck with babysitting because according to Jyabura I'm just a blathering idiot who'll run around screaming out information until the Marines show up to get us, chapapa" Towards the end of that he was mumbling to himself. "Hmph, what does he know?"

Kaku wasn't listening to all of that. His eye twitched as he whispered, "_Babysitting_?" but he exhaled and let his anger go. Usually he prided himself in controlling his emotions, but ever since he let his frustration over such an ungainly Devil Fruit ability get to him, he was finding it harder and harder to keep his temper in check. He would put a stop to that here and now. "How exactly are they getting money?"

Fukurou was still in a funk as he replied, "Chapa, I know Kumadori and Jyabura are probably putting on some kind of performance; they're good at that sort of thing. As for Kalifa and Blueno, they're on you're team right? You should know that better than me, chapapa."

"I'm not sure." It wasn't like he was around them constantly in Water 7; it would have looked too suspicious. "However, I know what I'm going to do..."

Before he ate his Devil Fruit, the way people like Blueno could naturally control such impossible abilities was beyond his comprehension, but now it was so obvious that it felt strange to think he had ever wondered about it. Once he gained an ability, it became something his body simply did. It was as easy as moving his fingers or turning his head.

But even though he found transforming easy and could think up dozens of ways to use his new power, his fight the day before had felt clumsy and strange to him. It was like everything else. He could control it, but to control it well would require training and experience.

For now he would have to settle for his slow, graceless transition into full giraffe form.

Fukurou backed away from him, startled but not surprised. "Don't do that here! There's no room, chapapa!"

"What's that?" Kaku had to bow his neck to keep from cracking his head on the roof of the alley. Between him and Fukurou, the small space became very cramped, but his sudden change in size caused his head to swim and he looked around blearily, not quite registering the problem. Once the momentary vertigo passed he said, "Can you find something to hold money in?"

Fukurou stared up in awe at the large animal that had formerly been his colleague. He had been teamed with Jyabura and Kumadori for a number of years, so Zoan transformations were nothing new to him. However, he naturally liked to grade the strength of those around him, and, predator or not, he could tell the giraffe was a powerful creature.

Kaku noticed the gawking and moved his head so his cap hid his face, thankful it changed with him so that it was still effective for this. "Stop staring and help me," he said through his teeth.

"Oh, right. Um… what was it you wanted again?"

"Something to collect money with."

"I'm on it, chapapa." At the back of the alley was a few boxes filled with odds and ends that couldn't quite be considered garbage, but that someone had obviously discarded. They were already rooted through once by the others, and now Fukurou picked at the various metal objects until he found an old pie tin. He held it up and asked, "Will this do?"

"It'll have to." Carefully Kaku unfurled his legs and stoop up. He had to bend his neck even further to fit. He found this form was tougher than his normal body, and wasn't being affected by his injuries quite as much.

Fukurou eyed him with concern. He was breathing heavily and straining to stay up. "Chapa, you're not going to do anything strenuous are you?"

Kaku shook his head. "I've been here before," he said. "St. Poplar is a tourist town and giraffes are popular animals. Just sitting there should be enough."

The round, green haired man looked fairly satisfied with this. "I don't have to tell you not to let anyone catch you talking or transforming, chapapa?"

"Of course not. That's why you're going to help me."

"What about Lucci?"

The pointedness of Fukurou's voice caused Kaku to pause. He looked over at the prone form of his partner lying next to the boxes at the back of the alley, his white pigeon sitting on his stomach.

"If anything happens, Hattori will let us know," he said.

"That's not what I meant, chapa."

And then Kaku got it.

Fukurou was making a scary sort of sense. Of course, that was expected. He had been part of CP9 for considerably longer, and no amount of douriki could make up for his experience. Even if it wasn't always backed up, it made him a formidable opponent. It was something Kaku had discovered around his second year of service, but it was also something that was very easy to forget. Fukurou made sure of that.

He was saying it was one thing to sound childish, but something else entirely to act it. That was exactly what Kaku was doing. He didn't want to go out there for the sake of the group, or even for Lucci. He had given in to the trap of Jyabura's competitiveness. He was doing it for himself. That was no good.

"I understand," he said. He was humbled, but to his credit he had already been troubled by the whole Water 7 episode, and was suffering from anger and frustration, a near death experience, a fever, a hell of a lot of pain, and a myriad of very big problems he didn't even want to think about. He was allowed a little lack of professionalism. At least now he was back on track. "…we still require as much money as we can get. Would you help me?"

"Are you sure you want me to, chapapa? I might blurt something out and endanger us all." This time Fukurou sounded bitter.

Kaku actually chuckled. "You don't fool me, Fukurou. There's not a word that comes out of your mouth you don't plan on."

Fukurou's eyes bugged out and his mouth formed into a small diamond shape, but he recovered quickly. "Oh yeah. Sorry, I've been around the moronic duo for too long. I forgot some people actually have intuition, chapapa." His expression grew hard. "Just remember all the dirt I have on you before you tell anyone else that."

Kaku couldn't care less about Fukurou's motives, and it gave him a headache just imagining how Jyabura would react if the man ever found out one of his teammates was throwing his missions on purpose.

"Fair enough," Kaku said.

The two of them moved out into a side street that was deserted due to the rain. That was good. There was no one around to see a giraffe in a tracksuit and a man who resembled a change purse materializing from an alley with only one entrance.

Kaku had to walk slowly, but he found that it was much easer with four legs. As long as none of them buckled than he didn't have to worry about keeping his balance. Thankfully the others had chosen a hiding place that was only one street over from the main street, so he didn't have far to go before he could sit down with his legs folded under him amidst a small bustle of vacationers. It couldn't be called comfortable, but it would do. At least the rain felt good on his hot - and now furry - skin.

As Fukurou got to work drawing a crowd (something he had a lot of experience with considering who was on his team), Kaku took his first opportunity to appreciate his newly gained view. The thin crowd of people moving too and from the harbor was hidden beneath many umbrellas and the occasional newspaper being held over a head, but this was St Poplar, Town of the Spring Queen. The rain there was famous for its refreshing coolness and cleansing properties; so many people walked about unprotected and happily soaked it up.

One of the incredible things he didn't have time to notice in Enies Lobby was just how sharp his vision had become. The way his eyes were situated made it hard to look directly forward, but gave him a much wider range. He could see over the rooftops on that side of the hill the town was built on, and several blocks over he spotted Kalifa using her Awa Awa powers to cover that area with bubbles, supposedly cleaning the buildings. He could also see far enough out over the ocean to make out ships that must have been miles away.

About a block from where he was settled Jyabura was in his full wolf form and putting on a show of doing various tricks while Blueno made an uncharacteristically animated commentary. As Kaku watched, the wolf jumped through a flaming hoop and accidentally caught the fur on his back on fire. When he noticed he yelped and started running around with Blueno chasing him until the rain put out the flames. The audience whooped with laughter all the while. They probably thought the two were some sort of clown act.

Even further down, a shirtless Kumadori was putting on one of his usual performances. Thankfully Kaku was far enough away that only a faint trace of the actor's voice could reach him.

Below him Fukurou said, "Okay, now who would like to pet the giraffe, chapapa?" bringing him back to the job at hand.

When Kaku saw the gaggle of small faces staring openly up at him, he realized that this probably wasn't such a good idea after all. He suddenly remembered that he really, _really_ disliked children.

"Don't worry, he's perfectly tame," Fukurou assured them. They stayed back though, looking nervous and even fearful. Finally one very small and very brave little girl in a cute green and yellow dress stepped out of the group.

In her tiny voice she said, "Um, Mr. Zipper? What's her name?"

_Wait. Her!?! _thought Kaku.

Fukurou didn't miss a beat and answered, "_His_ name is Patches, chapapa."

_Patches? Where did he get Patches?_

"Patches Chapapa?"

_That's even worse!_

"No, no. Just Patches."

"Oh, okay," and then the girl giggled and waved up at Kaku. "Hello Patches. My name is Suzie. I like your hat."

Kaku's train of thought went along the lines of, _Why is she talking to me like I can understand her? Well, I _can_, but if I was a normal giraffe I wouldn't be able to, and she can't know I'm not normal…_

He didn't let his face show any of this as he lowered his head to her level. She took a couple of paces back and fidgeted tentatively. Kaku couldn't figure out why she suddenly looked scared until he realized he was giving off his 'Mildly Annoyed' aura, which apparently frightened small children. He forcefully switched to 'Friendly,' fixing the problem.

The little girl approached him again, reached out, and patted him on the snout. Her eyes lit up and she exclaimed, "Uwaa! So soft!"

That did it. The dozen or so kids surged forward and surrounded him. As they ran their hands over the course fur of his neck, a couple of them complained that he was _not _soft, but prickly. Another kid, another girl, petted where the first had been a moment before and said, "Suzie's right though. His nose is soft."

Kaku sighed inwardly and tuned out the annoyingly meaningless babble as his new sense of smell was bombarded with wet hair and clothes, mud, grass, kid's soap, various foods, and unwashed, sticky candy fingers. He felt a swell of pride when a young man walked up to Fukurou, placed some money in the pie tin, and said, "My what a gentle animal. He really loves children, doesn't he?" If only he knew…

There was soon too many kids for Kaku to keep track of, so when one adventurous boy snuck up and straddled his neck it caught him completely by surprise. He discovered for the first time that not only did he have new senses, but also new instincts. At that moment his whole body was yelling, _BOLT, BOLT! KICK SOMETHING AND GET OUY OF THERE!_ He didn't actually listen to it, but the shock of getting an impulse he hadn't felt since the first time he met Lucci caused him to raise his head up.

A collective gasp from the crowd and he realized too late that the kid was still there. The little boy cried out and clutched desperately to Kaku's horns. Kaku was going to carefully lower his head back to the ground, but as soon as his neck was at a less dubious angle the kid let go and, giggling manically, slid backwards down his rain slicked body to land with a splash at his rump.

The kid gave him a huge, gap toothed grin and Kaku thought, _Oh no… You evil, vile little child!_ But it was no use. The boy opened his mouth and said, "That was so COOL! Can I go again?"

And of course every other kid wanted a turn. Fukurou smiled up at Kaku with a mischievous glint in his eye. Kaku glared down at him, his expression clearly uttering death threats. Fukurou ignored it.

"Chapa, alright everyone, come take a ride on Patches, the giraffe slide. It's super fun, chapapa!" he said. "Only 500 beli per ride!"

Before Kaku could protest, the first kid was already being handed up to him. All he could do was keep his neck at a safe angle and go along with it.

Eventually he lost track of time, and count of how many kids had taken a ride. The town was full of them, and most were not satisfied with only one turn. The pie tin sure was filling up fast though, which was good. He didn't know how long he would last.

It was a few hours later that he felt something carefully remove his cap and brush his forehead. When he opened his eyes he was met with Fukurou's very concerned face very close to his own. His neck was bent like a bow and he no longer had the energy to hold it up. He must have blacked out.

"Is Patches gonna be okay?" asked one of the kids who were still crowded around.

When Fukurou replaced his cap, Kaku closed his eyes once more and let his head sag so far that the round man actually had to support it lest it wind up in a puddle.

"Of, course he will," said Fukurou, smiling around at the dwindling group of concerned onlookers. "We've had a very long journey, and he's just tired. I'm afraid that's all for today, chapapa."

He gently patted Kaku's jaw to bring him around. "We're done now. Let's go rest."

It took everything Kaku had to get his legs to function. His muscles quivered and ached with fatigue as he stood up to full height. He could barely remember walking away from the main street before everything went black once more.

* * *

Kaku woke up comfortably drugged and staring at the ceiling tiles of the Doctor's office, which made him immediately assume he and the others had earned enough money. Yes, the only other occupied bed was just a mass of blankets, but he could see wavy black hair spilling out of one end. It was definitely Lucci.

He sighed. So they had completed their first goal. His mind was immediately wondering what came next. What would they do now? Would everyone stay as a team or go their own ways? They were no longer CP9, nothing to keep them together anymore. What was going to come of all this?

He could hear ticking; a clock. It was hanging above the doorway. The time was 3:24am, but he couldn't be sure of the day. He had probably been out of it for awhile, maybe even a couple of days. He could still hear rain hitting the window so it couldn't have been too long.

There was nothing else. Nothing left forcing him push himself, so he could finally rest and recuperate. Laying his head back down he waited for sleep to take him once more.

It never did. An hour passed and he was still staring up at those tiles. His mind began to wander over everything that had happened, and his anxiety began to set in once more.

This deep thinking put him into what was almost a meditative state, and when he snapped out of it, the sky outside his window was a morose gray instead of black. He looked at the clock again. It was six in the morning, and he knew he never fell asleep. Even though the best course was probably to stay in bed, if he lay there for much longer he was going to think himself into insanity. Besides, he didn't feel quite as doped up anymore.

Carefully he sat up, and was pleased to find he felt pretty good. He was still sore, especially his chest, but it wasn't beyond his tolerance. He felt rested and energetic even, almost to the point of being restless.

Looking around, he found his black runners next to the bed with a clean pare of socks conveniently stuffed inside. There was his also his hat and a fresh outfit on a nearby chair: plain pants and T-shirt, all black.

Throwing the blankets off, he swung his feet to the floor and stood up. When his balance didn't pull anything dodgy he went about putting his pants on. That's when he heard footsteps approaching. They had the distinct clicking of heels, but were too heavy and graceless to be Kalifa, so it had to be a doctor or nurse.

Kaku's experience with doctors was that they got testy if they caught you standing up before they thought you were ready, so he sat back on his bed to avoid this.

The woman who walked in was a dumpy nurse on her morning rounds. She actually leapt back a foot when she noticed Kaku looking at her.

He just smiled and said a pleasant, "Good morning."

"Holy crap kid! You scared the living daylights outa' me!" She smiled back, but it was a wicked looking expression. Her severe mouth coupled with the dark sunglasses she was wearing made her look tough and intimidating (or they would have if Kaku was anyone else).

"I'm sorry," he said, looking honestly so. "I didn't intend to."

She waved him off while getting back to business and checking over Lucci. "S'okay, s'okay. Just didn't think you'd be up yet is all. Hell, you shouldn't even be conscious right now."

"Oh no? How long have I been asleep then?"

The nurse was scribbling on a clip board, but stopped and tapped her pen against her chin. "Let's see? You're buddies brought you in here last evening, so I'd say you've been here about 12 hours now."

_That's all?_ "That's… interesting." Kaku watched as she went back to work on his partner. He asked how Lucci was.

"Hard to say," was the answer. "It's a miracle he's even alive. We did what we could, so only time will tell."

"I see…"

"Speaking of miracles," the woman rounded on him, "you're not far off from one yourself." She strode over and gestured for him to raise his arms. When he complied, she prodded his bandages and caused him to hiss in pain. "You're damn lucky, anyways. Much deeper and you'd have more than a few cuts and fractures to worry about." Her brow pursed disapprovingly as she took in his lanky form. "You're too thin though. You sure you eat enough?"

Kaku frowned at her and answered, "I eat very well, thank you."

"If you say so…" The nurse pointed at his bandages. "Those are gonna scar, by the way. Nothing I can do about that."

"No matter. I have enough already. What's a few more." And indeed there were numerous scars decorating his body. Most were faint, but there were a couple of more prominent ones. There was also a large blue tattoo on his back, but only a small part of it peered over the bandages that were wrapped around his torso.

She totted over all of this and asked, "How exactly does a traveling performer get all nicked up like that anyways?"

Kaku was only confused for a moment. _Traveling performer? Ah, must be our alias. _"I handle a lot of sharp implements. Accidents happen," he didn't quite lie. The woman was satisfied with this explanation and went to sit at a desk against the far wall and do her paperwork. Since his checkup seemed to be over Kaku grabbed his shirt and slipped it on carefully to avoid snagging his nose. He then donned his cap. Finally came his shoes, but as soon as he tried bending over for them a sharp ache lanced through him and he knew he had a problem. Instead he popped the socks out with his toe, pocketed them, and worked his bare feet into the shoes without unlacing them.

He got up and walked to the door. Thankfully the nurse didn't seem to notice this, but when he got there he realized there was something he was missing. "Oh. Excuse me, do you know where my te… my friends are staying?"

The nurse didn't look up from what she was doing as she said, "They said they were staying at one of the hotels by the town centre, but they didn't say which one." Then she jumped up and yelled, "Hey! What do you think you're doing!?! Get back in bed!"

"Thank you, but I don't think so." Kaku turned to leave, so she rushed over and tried to force him back. He stood his ground and said, "I apologize. I'm not a very good patient, am I? However I need to find my friends."

She continued to try and plead with / force him to stay, but he ignored her and didn't stop until he was almost out the door. He stopped and said, "I almost forgot, Lucci, your other patient, is not very good around people, so when he wakes up, you should leave him alone and come get me."

With that he was gone.


	5. City of the Spring Queen

**It's been a long time, but here we go again. I never forget about my stories. I just get distracted by that pesky thing called life.**

**Hope you enjoy.**

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It wasn't pouring like the day before. The clouds that morning were more like a cracked dam, just barely leaking enough water to call it rain. Still, they left the sky a morose gray and threatened to let it all out again later.

The streets were quiet for the most part, but it was late enough that the early risers were starting to come to life. An occasional shop owner would be preparing for the day. One of them noticed Kaku, the only person on that particular street. The big, bearded fruit vendor smiled and shook his head in mock disgust.

_Why is anyone up this early when they don't have to be? _ The gesture said.

Kaku gave the man a big 'life is great!" smile and kept walking.

The only places that were open were the more enterprising restaurants and cafes. This was worth it because of the bleary eyed tourists who kept wandering in on the quest for coffee and food.

Kaku had to dodge a few of these people, as well as step over a random drunk (refuse from the night before). He kept getting dirty looks for being as alert and chipper as he was. Actually he couldn't blame them; it puzzled him too. Even after everything he had been through, he was as awake and energetic as he could be. In fact he was actually resisting the urge to run, only because it wouldn't be wise to push his body.

By the time he reached the fountain at the center of town he was alone. The hotels here were all higher end, and would have things like room service and dinning rooms so that their patrons wouldn't have to go outside to find breakfast. The shops and restaurants were also on the expensive side, and did not need to open early.

It was doubtful that the team would be able to afford any of these places. Kaku wandered around until he found an older, less ritzy hotel tucked into a courtyard between two bigger ones. He scanned the balconies and spotted something pink spilling over the edge of the one three floors up and two from the left.

_Jackpot!_

He didn't want to deal with any grouchy receptionists, so he contemplated jumping. His injuries throbbed in warning, but he figured it would be okay. He took a short run at it and landed in a graceful crouch on the handrail.

Kumadori was slouched there, his hair filling the small space. At first his eyes were closed. He had obviously been sleeping, but as soon as Kaku landed he was up and swinging his staff at the intruder.

Kaku would have liked to dodge the blow with a spin or a flip, but he didn't want to land back in the infirmary so he went against his first instinct and invoked Tekkai instead.

Luckily Kumadori was no amateur. The instant he realized who the 'intruder' was, he cut off the attack. The rings on his staff clinked to a stop barely half an inch from Kaku's head.

"_YOI. Please forgive me. I did... not... reali..." _He slumped back down, his eyes drooped, and he was asleep.

Kaku exhaled as he released Tekkai. Cautiously he hopped from his perch and onto the balcony. He stayed alert even though Kumadori didn't move and continued to breath slowly. Just in case.

As he straightened up he winced and sucked in air through his teeth. The cuts across his chest were beating a firm "_I told you so!_" They hadn't opened up though. He was aware enough of his body to tell that. This did not stop it from hurting like hell.

He was about to slide the door into the hotel room open, but stopped when he heard a noise from inside.

"Okay, okay. Geeze, you could at least be polite about it."

It was Jyabura's hushed voice. It paused as though listening to a response. However, someone's loud snoring, the shower, and the cooing of Hattori were the only other sounds Kaku could make out.

"Yeah well, I'm sorry too." Jyabura started up again. "It's just... I don't get why the hell you're so dedicated to that asshole. What did he do to make you think he was worth it?"

More cooing.

_Wait a second..._ Kaku came to a very strange conclusion. _Is he talking_ _to the pigeon?_

His thoughts were cut off by, "Don't give me that 'duty' bullshit. You're a bird. Who do _you_ have to answer to?"

It was undeniable. Though Kaku couldn't understand what was being said, Hattori was definitely responding.

"His old man? Damn... you think Colm would know better than to land a bird with a cat."

Hattori 'said' something else and then Jyabura suddenly sounded indignant.

"I am not a _dog!_ I'm a wolf Zoan, which means I'm still human and so is he."

The pigeon's turn.

"I don't care! Most of what you could say about me is probably be true, but at least I don't kill my own teammates! With Lucci it don't matter who's side you're on. If you're close to him, you're close to death! That's why I worry about you... You and that stupid square nose."

Kaku's eyebrows came down. He was half annoyed at being called stupid and half startled that _Jyabura_ admitted to worrying about him.

Annoyance won out.

He figured he had eavesdropped for long enough, and besides, pushing the wolf man's buttons could be fun. He donned a casual smile and opened the door.

The room was a nice surprise. He found himself in the sitting room of a small suite, lightly furnished and tastefully decorated. Aside from the door to the hallway, there was a door to what was probably the bedroom, and one to the bathroom (the one issuing steam). Fukurou's mass was pressed up against one wall, his back to the room, and covered by a comforter that was too small. It was incredible that he was still asleep considering the horrible noise coming from Blueno. The man was lying on a futon along the opposite wall. He was on his back with his fingers laced on his chest like a corpse, which he could have been if not for his snoring.

There was one more futon, but it was empty. It probably belonged to Jyabura, who was sitting at a table. Kaku, said, "It's funny that you call me names when you're the one who's talking to a bird," causing Jyabura to spring from his chair and point at him .

Jyabura's mouth opened to let out his shocked spluttering. Once he got over it his face changed to imply that he was about to yell something, but he stopped himself. He closed his mouth and his eyes, crossed his arms, and thought very hard. Finally he growled out, "Fine, you caught me. I can talk to animals." He opened his eyes and, with a dramatic grin, said "Congratula-" but Kaku wasn't there. He looked around and found the young man had taken his chair and was eating some leftover chicken that had been left out on the table. "Hey! Were you even listening?"

Kaku swallowed and said, "Yes. You can talk to animals. I figured that out already."

Kaku had taken up one chair and Hattori was perched on another, but there were three so Jyabura plunked himself into the third. "But you don't sound surprised."

"I was at first, but it's not like it's unheard of," he took another bite of chicken. "So what happened? Were you raised by wolves?"

"How did you guess" Jyabura grumbled wryly.

Kaku choked, forcibly swallowed, and began to chuckle. "Of course you were," he laughed. "Tell me, was this before or after you ate your Devil's Fruit."

Not expecting that question, Jyabura blinked and scratched his head. To tell the truth, he never really gave it any thought before. "During I think," he shrugged. "I vaguely remember eating this weird looking mango that tasted like shit, but I didn't understand what had happened. I was already one of them by that time, so looking like one was just a natural progression."

Kaku continued to eat during Jyabura's story, but he paused now that it was over and his face went from amused to thoughtful.

The older man began to bristle over the strange stare he was getting. He bared his teeth and growled. "Keep that up and I'm gonna punch your face in!"

"Strange, isn't it?" Kaku ignored the outburst. "Finding a Devil's Fruit is a chance in a million, and when a child living amongst wolves finds one it just happens to be the only one that can turn him into a wolf?"

"Such coincidences are not unheard of," interjected third voice.

The two of them looked over to see Blueno rising from his futon and straightening his clothes. Once they were slightly less wrinkled he went over and sat on Hattori's chair. The bird gave an indignant coo and took wing only to perch on one of his 'horns.'

"There are some who believe that the Fruit's alter their consumers to better fit their abilities," he went on, "and others who speculate that the people who find Fruit's match them to begin with: that they're meant to find them. Either way, the number of ability users I've met whose abilities match with their situation or personality is staggering."

Kaku looked like he was mulling this over while Jyabura grinned and said, "So what does that mean for square-giraffe man here?"

Kaku scowled at him. "I _like_ the giraffe," he replied darkly, but then really thought about the implication that he was 'destined' for the power he got. Finally admitting to himself the absurdity of it he did the only thing he could do. He started to laugh.

"What the? Have you finally cracked?" asked Jyabura.

"No!" Kaku choked out. "It's just that, of all the possibilities, I end up a giraffe-man? Dear God!_"_

"Then why are you laughing?" The wolf Zoan failed to keep the amusement out of his own voice.

"Because if I don't, I really _will _go insane."

"I wouldn't worry about it," said Blueno. "You're new to your power. It's likely more useful than you imagine. Besides, it can't be that bad." Of course he had only the full giraffe transformation.

The other two turned to him. "It's bad," they simultaneously deadpanned. Then they looked at each other, and lost control.

Confused, Blueno simply watched the two laughing fools nearly fall out of their chairs.


	6. Shopping and a Short Break

**Sorry about the last chapter being so short. It was meant to be part of this one, but I got stuck and decided just to end it.**

**Hope you enjoy.**

* * *

Freshly showered and wearing the plain black clothes she had bought the night before, Kalifa exited the bathroom to an interesting sight. Kaku and Jyabura were laughing uncontrollably and almost falling over each other, and as she went over to find out what was going on she had to dodge a pillow thrown at them by a tired and disgruntled Fukurou.

"Kaku," she cut in, "when did you get here? Shouldn't you still be in bed right now?"

"Yeah," added Jyabura as he calmed down. "You're in an awful good mood for someone who almost _died_ yesterday."

Smiling amiably, Kaku placed a hand over his injured chest. It ached after his outburst but... "I'm surprised as well. I expected to feel much worse than I do."

Jyabura snorted. "Thought you said you'd read up on this shit." His voice took on a superior tone that made Kaku and Kalifa frown. "You're a Zoan now, which means you'll heal from injuries much faster."

Kaku looked to Blueno for confirmation and he nodded. "He's right. Zoan users tend to have higher resistance and quicker recovery times than most normal humans. Of course the level of this improvement depends on the individual."

With a smile Kaku said, "That's useful, though I'd prefer not to get injured."

"What about the other power classes?" Kalifa asked, squinting at Blueno.

"It depends on what the power is and how you choose to use it."

"Chapa, if you're a Logia that would be great, but from what I've seen of you're power's you're probably a Paramecia." Fukurou was finally up and standing over her.

Kalifa shuffled away from him a little, but it was no use. There was simply no room for the entire team in that tiny hotel room. Inspired by the fact that she was tired of not being able to see and wearing bland, unflattering clothing she said, "Why don't we go out and try to earn more money?"

"More?" asked Kaku, almost whining. "Haven't we humiliated ourselves enough?"

Blueno shook his head. "She's right, though. We've told the everyone we're circus performers, but we look more like a funeral procession."

"And one hotel room is not enough for all of us," the woman added. "I'll have you know that I had to sleep in the tub last night."

His eye twitching, Jyabura barked, "Hey, I offered you my futon last night!"

Not missing a beat, she responded, "That's sexual harassment."

"_Shaddup!"_

* * *

That day turned out to be far less prosperous. The problem was that most of the tourists had already seen them the day before, and weren't willing to pay money to see the performances again. Even Kaku's giraffe slide was a novelty that had worn off. Also, with the Sea Train still down, there would be no fresh audience for a day or two.

By mid afternoon the group had given up, and Jyabura found a nice spot of sand on the beach near the harbor to curl up and have a nap.

As evening approached he was awake again, but kept his eyes closed. He took in the scene surrounding him with his nose and his ears instead. They were senses that had grown much sharper than his eyesight, even though that was never supposed to happen while in his human form. He suspected it had something to do with having his ability for so long, and though he would never ask, he was willing to bet that Lucci developed the same benefits.

Everything was peaceful. The air was filled with the smells of the sea, clean, warm sand, and festival food. Above the gulls and the waves, he could hear vendors hawking their goods, couples conversing happily as they walked along the boardwalk, dinner conversations from a nearby restaurant, and the laughter of children as they played in the water with their families under the last rays of a beautiful sunset.

Honestly, he could stay like this for hours, but the peace was broken when an old sounding voice said, "There you are. I believe I found something that belongs to you."

With a growl, he opened his eyes and glared over his shoulder at Kaku who was standing over him. His annoyance vanished when he noticed the young man was holding something out to him... something white and feathery that was trying to scratch its way out of its captor's grip.

"Caesar?" he whimpered.

The rooster paused, and responded with a soft, "Chirp?"

"Can you take this thing?" said Kaku. "It has a bit too much of your personality for my liking."

Jyabura obliged, and, tearing up, immediately started rubbing the confused bird against his cheek. He was mumbling things like, "You awesome little guy!" and, "I never thought I'd see you again!" Once he calmed down he noticed that Kaku was doubled over with laughter at his gushing, and that he was willing to forgive it this one time. "Where the _hell_ did you find him?"

"Back at headquarters."

He blinked. "Wanna run that by me again?"

"I went back along the Sea Train tracks to see if I could find my swords, but all I found was..." Kaku grimaced at the rooster, which was glaring at him, "that."

Jyabura still couldn't quite fathom this. It had taken them all night to walk that distance, and even Puffing Tom took about two hours. The last time he had seen Kaku was about four hours ago, which meant he had to have run at least as fast as the train, and only a day after being fatally injured. Not to mention he'd gone back to the place they just escaped from and that was potentially swarming with Marines.

"You... you moron!" Jyabura tried to whack him upside the head, but he easily dodged.

"What do you think you're doing?" he asked asked as he distanced himself and took a defensive stance.

"What do you think _you're_ doing?" the older man angrily yelled back. "You just risked our safety for a couple of hunks of iron!"

"Excuse me?" Kaku looked royally pissed off now. Almost faster than the eye could follow he struck out with a kick. It wasn't _Soru_, but it was close. "Those were rare, and a gift!"

Jyabura expertly blocked him, caught his ankle, and tried to flip him face first into the sand. "I don't care if you got them from God himself! You had no right to go back to... there without even telling us!" They had an audience now, so he needed to be careful what he said.

Kaku stopped his descent with both hands and spun himself from Jyabura's grip. "I was careful, and the place was deserted anyways."

"You couldn't have known that," the older man replied. As he massaged his now friction burned palm the pain quelled his temper. He was willing to bet Kaku had a very sore ankle right now. "You could have been spotted and followed back here, and not all of us are recovering as quickly as you and me. They're hiding it well, but Blueno and Fukurou are still in rough shape, and what about Lucci? You're the one who insisted on saving that asshole."

Dropping his guard, Kaku sighed. "You're... right," he said disbelievingly. "I just... don't feel like myself right now. I'm... frustrated."

_And worried_, thought Jyabura. He smelt like a walking ball of anxious tension. In fact he was even worse now than he was the day before.

Well then, using his own natural speed, Jyabura threw a punch that, without being able to invoke _Soru_ or _Tekkai _with people around, Kaku was forced to block. "Don't let you're guard down, idiot. There's no way I'm letting you off so easily." If he wanted to keep Kaku from pulling anymore stunts, he'd just have to redirect all that energy towards himself.

Kaku was knocked back, but managed to keep his footing. Unfazed, he asked, "Do you just want to hit me, or are we fighting?"

"We're fighting." Jyabura took a wide stance and bared his teeth. "But no funny business, got it?"

At first he didn't understand what Jyabura meant, but then he noticed the crowd that had gathered around them to watch the bout. Suddenly self-conscious, he grabbed the brim of his hat and used it to hide his face. At the same time, he took a stance of his own: feet apart and arms tight to his sides. "Agreed. No 'funny business.'"

Jyabura couldn't believe someone would go into a fight with such an obvious blind spot, but if his opponent was going to leave an opening, then he was going to exploit it.

Quickly and silently he moved to strike, palm open and fingers clawed. He had taken heads off with this, but was confident that Kaku would at least be able to survive.

Kaku moved forward and raised his right arm fast enough to strike Jyabura's forearm, but Jyabura seamlessly shifted his weight so that he poised himself above the younger man. He then brought his foot down like a javelin. It was a blow that could cleave a skull, and it was blocked from sight by the brim of Kaku's cap.

It looked like Jyabura would win, but at the last possible moment Kaku leaned back and tilted his head up so that Jyabura's foot missed him by millimeters.

Jyabura's foot hit the ground with enough force to cause a small explosion of sand, and by the time he realized what happened, Kaku was several feet away.

Kaku chuckled and said, "I realize what you're trying to do, but you'll find I have no blind spots."

"Bullshit," the older man spat. He took a stance once more. This time he widened his feet and stretched his arms towards his opponent, his hands meeting at the wrists and his fingers clawed to form the 'Wolf's Jaw' that was the basis of his _Tekkai Kempo_.

Kaku fell back on his default: feet spread, arms at his side, and back ramrod straight.

Instead of attacking, the two of them stood like that for several heartbeats. The crowd around the them held their breath as a small piece of litter flittered on the evening breeze. Daintily it danced between them... down... down... down.

The instant it touched the ground they both moved.

Jyabura might have be a user of _Rokushiki_, but he was a Master of martial arts long before that. He had even developed his own style, simply named _Kenpo_, with roots in the famous Karate of South Blue. It was this perfect discipline of muscle, this waste of no movement, and poise of focus that had allowed him to do the impossible: move wile invoking _Tekkai_.

And for the life of him he couldn't get a blow in on that damn kid.

At first Kaku could only dodge or block, but as the seconds tacked on he was able to counter and even throw a few punches and kicks of his own.

Punch... kick... kick... dodge... block... dodge... feint... kick... Jyabura felt like this was going nowhere. They were too evenly matched, and something strange was going on. He backed off a little and then charged while focusing all of his senses to their capacity. To him it was as though their movement had slowed to a crawl. He threw out his right fist, but feinted at the last second and punched with his left instead.

Kaku had begun dodging the feint before his left hand had even moved.

It happened again and again. The younger man was moving out of the way of Jyabura's attacks before he could even make them!

Kaku even laughed and yelled out, "This is fun!" in the middle of jumping over Jyabura's head.

Jyabura put some distance between them so that he could think. He had heard of this type of thing before, people who could read the very _chi_ within their opponents and use it to predict attacks. His face broke into a toothy grin. It was a good thing he had learned to control his _chi._

He moved into the 'Wolf's Jaws' but, licking his lips, he shifted the stance so subtly that even Lucci wouldn't have noticed. What he would have noticed was that Jyabura's _chi_ had surrounded him and taken the form of a snarling beast (a wolf, of course). Softly he said, "_Kenpo_ style: Silent Hunter." He and the beast sprang forward together, but split apart during the charge. The beast made to attack Kaku's right shoulder, but Jyabura himself went in for a flanking blow to the right.

It worked! Kaku was dodging the beast and not his real opponent, but suddenly his elbow came down and would have connected with Jyabura's skull had the wolf _Zoan_ not stopped on time.

The look in Kaku's eyes told him it was an instinctual reaction rather than the previous calculated ones. The kid was shaken.

Jyabura backed off again and, chuckling, said, "I thought for sure that would getcha."

Thoughtfully placing a hand on his abdomen, Kaku said, "The swordsman who defeated me did something similar. It didn't expect it from you."

Jyabura barely heard this as the crowd was cheering. Voices were yelling out things like, "Go Fu Manchu!" and "Get 'im Square Nose." He also spotted Blueno's distinctive haircut, and caught Fukurou's annoying voice saying, "I usually bet on the Square Nose. He wins most of the time... oops! I shouldn't have said anything!"

That was odd. He and Kaku had never fought like this before, as the kid had always been beneath his notice. That meant the others were planing something, and it sounded like there were bets involved. Fukurou just made sure that most people were going to bet on Kaku, so if Jyabura won...

He grimaced. He would have to play the underdog, which meant taking a few hits, and even though he now knew he was going to win the fight, there would be no satisfaction in a fixed victory.

Kaku was moving and this time Jyabura reacted too slowly to avoid the kick. It connected squarely with his chest and sent him airborne with enough force to make his ribs creak. Something tugged at the collar of his shirt, and suddenly he was face-planted into the sand.

He got up spitting and growling. That would have killed him if the surface was anything else. Did Kaku miss the hint?

The kid laughed derisively and said, "You must be senile if you think you still stand a chance, old man. I have 9 victories to your 3, so what say you we make it an even 10?"

Ok, so he got it. Jyabura grimaced. This was not going to be pretty.

* * *

Kaku was messaging his right shoulder as he walked back to the hotel alone. He stopped, looked in the direction of a shadowed balcony and said, "You nearly broke my arm you know."

"Good." Jyabura stepped into the light cast by a nearby street lamp and crossed his arms. "You deserved it."

"I suppose." Kaku smiled and continued walking. "That _was_ fun though."

Jyabura jumped down and walked beside him. "Yeah. It was nice to have an opponent who wasn't shamelessly trying to murder me."

"How do you know I wasn't?" Kaku asked with a smirk.

"'Cause that's not your style."

They walked in silence for a bit, before Kaku asked, "What was that about anyways?"

Jyabura shrugged, "We'll find out when we meet up with the others."

Once they reached the hotel they went in the front door and were greeted by the bored looking young women behind the reception desk. "Heard you had an exciting night," she said, smiling at Jyabura.

He winked at her. "I always do, sweetheart."

As she giggled, Kaku gave him a disturbed frown and kept walking. "So you're a womanizer?" he whispered once Jyabura caught up.

"Responding to them is polite."

Kaku opened the door to their room first, but froze at the sight before him.

"Hey, what's the hold up?" Jyabura barked, but when he peaked over Kaku's shoulder, his jaw dropped. "Holy shit!"

The others were crowded around the little table, which was stacked with what had to be at least 200,000 _beli._

It was Kumadori who beamed proudly at their shock and said, "_Looook what I managed to win us, Yoyoi!"_

Kaku went the rest of the way in so that the door could closed behind them. "_You_ won this?" he balked. "But who in their right mind would take bets with _you?_ You're obviously one of us."

Fukurou unzipped his mouth and said, "Kumadori is CP9's best infiltrator, chapapa."

"_Kumadori?" _Kaku was definitely having trouble believing that one.

Jyabura clapped him on the back sympathetically and said, "Don't ask."

* * *

"What next... what next..." Kalifa muttered as she looked at the list in her notebook, a smoking cigarette dangling from her lips. The day was turning out sunny and warm and she was clad in fresh bought jeans and a t-shirt. It was inexpensive Bossbo clothing, but at least it was stylish.

"_I think we have everything we neeeeed ~" _said Kumadori. He was sitting on a crate, surrounded by bags, and enjoying the licorice he had just bought from the market.

Honestly, she didn't know how she ended up with Kumadori as her shopping partner, but she wasn't going to complain. He was pleasant company, and he kept insisting on carrying all the bags. When she looked up from her book she saw him offer a piece of his candy to Hattori, who had been following him around.

"I don't think pigeons like that sort of thing," she chided, as she adjusted her new glasses.

Much to her surprise, the bird took the treat and flew off with it. Chuckling, Kumadori said, "_He will not eat it himself, but will... will... will... take it to Lucci in hope that it will wake him~" _

"Why would _Lucci_ wake from a coma just for candy?"

Kumadori munched his licorice thoughtfully before replying, "_The sky is heavy with fresh snow and as it falls upon the mountain a lone tiger abandons its fierce nature to cavort amongst the fields of white ~"_

She didn't get it, and the image of Rob Lucci making snow angles made her shudder.

Kumadori smiled at her confusion. He'd forgotten that she didn't do well with metaphors. She always took them for their literal meaning. "_Lucci likes sweets," _he clarified.

"R... really?"

"_Very much so ~"_

She couldn't picture that either. It was just too... human. Then again, she couldn't picture him ever loosing to anyone either. She didn't know what to think anymore, and the stress of everything began to finally catch up to her.

Noticing her sudden trembling, Kumadori said, "_Yoi ~ Kalifaaa you must be calm. All that can happen is what is meant to happen ~"_

"How can you say that?" she snapped. "Lucci could wake up tomorrow and either wipe us all out or rejoin the team. He might not wake up at all! And what about after that? Will we all stick together or go our separate ways? Will the Marines catch up to us? Will they defeat us? What do we even _do_ now?"

"_I do not know ~" _Kumadori shrugged, "_But I... I... I... look forward to finding out."_

With a sigh, Kalifa managed to calm herself. She tried to take a drag from her cigarette, but it was down to the filter so she dropped it and crushed it with her heel. Crossing her arms defensively she asked, "Do you at least know if Jyabura was right? Will Lucci try to kill us?"

Oh he could think of so many beautiful lines of poetry with which to answer that question, but instead he chose his words carefully so that Kalifa would understand. "_There is no shame in a fated battle. If he can see the wisdom of these words, he will choose the correct path ~"_

"Fated?" She frowned. "You actually think we were _supposed _to loose?" She wanted to kick him in his smiling face.

"_No... only that the Straw Hats were meant to win ~"_

"That's the same thing!"

He shook his head. _"The Government forgets ~ this world is not a calm, standing pool of water, but a turbulent, flowing ocean, and all things must rise and ebb like the tide. What happened at Enies Lobby was not a defeat at the hands of lowly pirates ~ It... it... it... was the beating of a gong to mark the advent of a new era. Its note of change shall resound throughout the world ~"_

It took her a minute to process all of this. Finally she said, "But we lost. You're not upset about that?"

He merely smiled and stood up, stuffing the last of his licorice into the pocket of his shorts, and gathering up the bags. Just when she thought she wasn't getting an answer, he said something that would make her think for a very long time.

"_I am honored to have been the gong ~"_

* * *

**Note: I know that kenpo is a real martial arts style and that _chi_ is never really used in the One Piece universe. It's just going to be a word that Jyabura uses.**


	7. The Awakening

Morning found Fukurou, Jyabura, and Kaku lounging beneath the colorful awning of a cafe not far from their hotel.

Jyabura had his arms crossed and was grumbling to himself.

This drew Kaku out of his troubled thoughts and he stared at the older man. "What are you still pouting about?" he asked.

"I wanted to go shopping with Kalifa..."

Fukurou burst out laughing at that, but Kaku just gave him a horrified look. "Good heavens, _why_?"

The wolf-man was trying to cut off Fukurou's cries of, "Jyabura likes clothes shopping, chapa!" so Kaku continued.

"She used to make me go shopping with her on Water-7, " he said. "It was terrible! She makes you try things on right there in the store, and constantly asks your opinion, and if you say the wrong thing she kicks you!"

With Fukurou's mouth firmly zipped, Jyabura sat back and said, "I don't know about the kicking part, but most women are like that. They also have weird taste when it comes to picking out clothes for men." He crossed his arms and started grumbling again. "Dammit, I just know she's going to make me look ridiculous."

"She won't," Kaku countered. "Kalifa has excellent taste and you know it. You just wanted to go because you wish to womanize her."

"I don't womanize!" His chair screeched as he stood up and banged his palms on the table. The passing tourists were already giving their group a wide birth, but this outburst caused a number of them to stop and stare. "Being nice to women does not make me a womanizer! And what are you punks lookin' at!"

The audience quickly scurried away as Blueno returned with a tray of drinks and a newspaper under one arm. "You're making a scene," he admonished as he handed out the beverages and sat down. He took a drink of his own black coffee and unfolded the paper to the first page.

Jyabura plopped back down in a huff. "I wouldn't chase Kalifa anyway. I'm way to old for her, and she has her eye on someone already." He sipped at his whipped-cream topped strawberry frappachino.

"She does?" Kaku asked in surprise. He might have waited for an answer, but he noticed what Jyabura was drinking and snickered.

"What?"

"That drink," he chuckled. "It's rather..."

Unable to resist, Fukurou unzipped his mouth and shouted, "Chapa, Jyabura also likes girly, fruity drinks!"

He and Kaku both started outright pointing and laughing, but surprisingly Jyabura did not freak out. Instead he serenely enjoyed another swing of his frappichino, smacked his lips, and said, "Say what you want, but this is delicious."

It only made them laugh harder.

He ignored them for a couple of minutes, then interrupted them by saying, "Oi, Blueno. Anything about us in there?"

Blueno took his time changing the page as the others calmed down enough to listen. He slowly shook his head. "They're blaming all the destruction on the unusually strong Aqua Lagoona, and there's mention that some government officials might have aided the pirates, but there's nothing about us specifically."

"What about the Straw Hats?" asked Fukurou. He leaned forward hungrily.

"Some burned wreckage of their ship was found, but there was no sign of the crew. It's assumed that they escaped." Blueno turned the paper around to show off the centrefold. "Also their bounties went up quite a bit."

"300 MILLION BERI?! HOLY SHIT!"

Kaku and Fukurou both slammed their fists down on the wolf-man's head to stop his outburst.

Blueno went back to his reading while they bickered, and he didn't notice when a frantically cooing white pigeon landed on his right horn.

"Hunh? Hattori?" Jyabura put up a hand to stop the others from talking. He listened intently, then bared his teeth and growled.

"What is he saying?" asked Kaku.

"Lucci woke up."

They all fell silent at that, their heads lowered as they though of the implications.

Kaku was the first to speak. "How is he? Is he still in the infirmary?" he asked the bird.

Hattori cooed an answer that Jyabura translated as, "He's sitting up in bed, but he's just staring at nothing and he won't respond to me."

Rising from his seat, Kaku said, "I'll go speak to him. You should all stay here."

"What the hell Kaku?!" Jyabura also stood up. "Like you can handle him alone. If he tries to kill you, you're gonna need back up."

But the younger man was already running away, pigeon in tow.

Jyabura made to go after them, but Blueno caught his arm and said, "It's fine. I doubt Lucci will hurt him."

* * *

The door creaked as Kaku slowly opened it and peaked into the infirmary. The doctor and nurse who ran the place were on tip toes, staring shoulder.

It was just as Hattori said, Lucci was sitting up, hands fisted in his sheets, staring blankly at a point about three feet from the end of his bed. He had a piece of red liquorice sticking out of his mouth in a way that it looked like a droopy, red cigarette.

"Well I'll be," whispered the doctor.

Putting out an arm to stop them from entering the room, Kaku said, "We lost a lot in the wreck and I don't know how he'll react. Please give us a moment."

The doctor shrugged. "Hey, you're the payin' customer, but I should take a look at 'im soon."

Kaku nodded. "Thank you."

He stepped into the room and quietly closed the door behind him. Picking up a chair, he made his way over and settled himself next to his partner's bed. Hattori arrived in the window as he was examining the candy in Lucci's mouth.

"I'm guessing you did this?" he asked the bird. Hattori responded with an unblinking stare.

"I'll just," he carefully reached around, took the end of the liquorice between his thumb and middle finger, tugged it loose, and placed it on the night stand, "put that there."

Hattori continued to stare at him, and Lucci didn't react at all. Kaku was growing worried now so he pointed one long finger at his partner and gulped.

He was not scared of Rob Lucci normally, but he knew that prodding an unresponsive assassin, no matter who they were, was as stupidly dangerous as doing the same to a sleeping tiger... or leopard. However, caution was not one of his strong suits. He took a moment to reflect on his life, then gently poked Lucci in the shoulder.

Nothing.

"Lucci?" Poke, poke. "Hello?"

He froze. His wrist was suddenly caught in an iron grip that felt more like a bear trap. He was sure he was about to lose his hand.

Ever so slowly Lucci blinked and looked around the room, his eyes finally falling on the one who's arm he was trying to wrench off. "Oh... Kaku." He let go.

Kaku rubbed his wrist and sat back with a relieved smile. "Good. I'm glad you're finally awake. How do you feel?"

Lucci began examining his bandaged body, clenching and unclenching his fists. His eyebrow twitched, he shut his eyes, bared his teeth, and leaned forward. "Like I've been beaten to within an inch of my life," he said. His voice was slow and grave. He was panting, covered in sweat, but he still managed a small smirk, "What an interesting sensation."

With a chuckle, Kaku said, "You should try laying back down. You'll feel better."

Lucci stared at him owlishly, face full of doubt, but he did as suggested. Once he relaxed back on his pillow, he let out a shaky breath. "Yeah... this is much better."

Kaku chuckled again, then crossed his legs, laced his fingers together, and rested his chin on them.

It took a few moments, but Lucci gathered himself enough to say, "So. Did the Straw Hats escape?"

"Yes."

"How many?"

"All of them."

Lucci's eyes drifted closed. It looked like he was about to fall asleep. "Even Nico Robin?"

"Robin, Cutty Flam, the whole lot."

"And I suppose Spandam blamed it all on us?"

Kaku straightened at that. "He told the Marines that one of us went rogue. We're being hunted. How did you know?"

"Why else would we be in St Poplar and not the hospital in Marineford." Lucci sighed. "This is bad for you, isn't it?"

Shoulders stiffened, Kaku lowered his eyes and didn't answer.

"What will you do?" Lucci's eyes cracked open and he shifted his head to level a curious gaze at his partner. "Will you go back where you came from?"

"No." Kaku answered, his voice hard. "That would be the worst course of action." He was quiet for a long beat. "What about you? You can't be pleased with all of this. The others feared you might go on a rampage."

Lucci stared up at the ceiling, his eyes distant with that expression he had when he first woke up, the one that Kaku didn't recognize. His partner posed that like a question, so he answered. "No. I'm tired."

"Then will you try to rejoin the Government? Or seek revenge against the Straw Hats?"

A thoughtful pause. "Why would I want either of those things."

Kaku's brow lowered in confusion. "Why wouldn't you?"

Again the answer was slow in coming. "Justice is defined by those in power. I never doubted that the World Government's power was indisputable, and I've never been proven wrong until the Straw Hats. It's... refreshing." He closed his eyes. "I think I'll do my own thing for now."

"God help us all," Kaku said with a grin.


End file.
